A Family of Souls
by Pernshinigami
Summary: "This is the story of how a team became a family." Maka wrote. "United not in blood, but in the soul." Kid/Chrona/Blackstar/Soul, Kid/Chrona, Soul/Blackstar, Stein/spirit mild Maka/Tsubaki, Giriko/Justin. yaoi, yuri, mpreg, and Hermaphrodite!Chrona
1. Chapter 1

With regards to timeline, some notes. I'm going to basically blend some elements of the Anime and Manga together in a fused timeline. This is especially in regards to Crona, who along with Kid and Stein is my favorite character. I disliked what was done with him in the manga.

There's some changes to what was done immediately post Medusa's release of the Kisshin as well as some attempts given to explain Crona's gender and Kid's neurosis that are not part of the actual anime.

One of my opinions is that by paying better attention to Crona his betrayel and leaving of Shibusen, as well as his putting the snake in Marie could have been prevented, and that is what Kid and Death basically attempt to do, give him the attention and rehabilitation he needs. Since Crona's gender is unclear, he could go into either yaoi or yuri or both.

I'm very likely going to have Spartoi form earlier, and have Justin /already/ know Giriko, probably have Giriko be more like Motoko from GitS in skills with her puppet prosthetic bodies or something. It's a fanfic, I can do that.

* * *

Maka sighed, looking out the window of Kid's mansion as she wrote in her diary and watched the others. **This is the story of how a team became a family…** she began **… since I was a child, I'd known there were many strange things in the world. How could I not? After all, my father is a servant of the grim reaper…**

**Okay, so its not really about me…** Maka ducked as Kid threw a pillow at Blackstar, only for the assassin to dodge it. "Baby belly baby belly, Kiddo has a baby belly! Kid is fat!"

And kid just went crazy, screaming at Blackstar about how asymmetrical he was, only for Soul to open one eye from his nap and tell Blackstar to apologize. Crona blushed, cuddling closer to Kid and yelling, before pulling a cat form Blair closer to him and yawning. "Blackstar! That's not nice!"

**Three pregnant men in the house.** Maka thought. **And the women are acting more mature. Well, Crona doesn't really count as a man, he's a man /and/ a woman.** Maka corrected herself. **Blackstar is the only man in our little group who isn't knocked up. And this whole experience only confirms my belief that men... have no control over their sexual appetites. I mean dad even /warned/ Kid that if he had more sex with Chrona while unprotected he'd get pregnant, and they kept doing it. **

Crona was asleep on the nearby couch, Ragnarok curled up next to him and Blair in her cat form purring happily against his stomach. Soul, meanwhile, went back to sleep as well. That was all they really did most of the time, sleep, the Deathscythes were all out searching for Asura, there was nothing to do but wait. But Maka suspected that Kid was too afraid of his own moodswings to leave his mansion for anything other than baby shopping, the young shinigami's neurosis had been /aggravated/ by the hormone changes. Though it was a good idea for the quartet to get some rest while they could, Maka didn't think Crona would deal too well with a squalling infant.

"Right." Maka reminded herself and began to write. "Thats why we're here, to turn a team into a family. A large, crazy, while not directly related, still loving family."

~ about two months before~

Things were a mess, Maka, Soul, and Kid were all stuck in the infirmary after their battle with Medusa's forces. Kisshin had escaped and Stein had nearly gone insane. What's more, Crona was… well, the medics had sedated him and brought him to the dungeon.

Maka had prayed that Lord Death would spare Crona. The boy needed a doctor, and a friend, not a jail. And Crona's words stuck in her head.

"WHY?" Maka had screamed just before she and Soul went into the same madness as Crona. "Why do you follow that BITCH? Medusa doesn't care about you! You're just a pawn to her!"

"no, no no no, Medusa is my mother! SHe'd never use me!"

Maka had just enough time to be indignant before the madness had taken her over. She'd somehow managed to bring Crona out from within his circle in the sand, to bring water to the beaches of his peculiar little world.

Maka was angry, no mother should abandon her child like that.

"Excuse me." A black woman dressed in a nurse's uniform and covered in bandages except for her face and hair entered. "I'm sorry to interrupt, I'm Mira Nygus, I've been appointed Interim School Nurse by lord death." There was a pleasant tone to her voice and Maka thought she might be smiling underneath the bandages. "I'm Sid's weapon, its nice to meet you Maka, Soul. And Kid, its been awhile."

"Hello Nygus." Then to Maka. "Nygus and Sid took care of me when I was a child, since Father couldn't leave the castle."

"Oh, nice to meet you Nygus!" Maka had never met Sid's weapon, but since he was a Meister she'd known he must have one. And she didn't really know too much about Kid's past either. So finding out something new about her schoolmates was always pleasant.

"Now, lets go over your charts and send you home. You should rest when you get there though. No hard work." Nygus had just picked up Maka's chart when the mirror chimed. "Nygus, how nice to see you taking charge. I'm sending you one more, and when you've cleared him, he's to go home with Kid, Kid and Maka will be supervising him."

"Oh?"

"I'm also giving him a writing assignment to do while he's staying at Kid's, you can tutor him right?"

"Of course." Nygus said, and again Maka got the distinct impression that the woman was smiling.

* * *

Death had read over the psychiatrist's report of Crona, certain words jumped out from the page immediately, and he knew life had not been kind to the teen. PTSD, Depression, severe abuse, social anxiety, as well as other words jumped out from the page. And then there was a physical issue. "Sid was right, the boy has issues."

Next was Maka's report, written in the schoolgirl's tight, concise writing. Death was not a psychologist, but he understood symbols just fine. The strongest meisters always found that they had a "soul room" a room that they retreated to when they were under psychic attack. This dreamworld could be interpreted by the right person, or with the right training, used as a psychological baseline to bring a meister new insight into their minds or the mind of their weapon.

The fact that child Crona had drawn a circle in the sand, trying to keep people out, that his shadow had spoken within his world, a common occurance in these worlds that indicated the subconscious was trying to speak, that Crona had been unwilling to answer its questions and actually thought it to be some kind of demonic alter ego when in reality the shadow's appearance was an indication that Chrona was able to be saved. The boy was paralyzed by his own fear of the world, fear that Medusa had purposefully placed there. Psychologically the boy could go either way. Madness or…

There was Spirit and Stein's affadavits that Medusa had confirmed Crona was her son.

Then there was the medical reports Stein, working even while injured, had submitted. Maka and Soul had both used the madness technique during the battle. And there was some question as to whether or not they'd been contaminated because of Crona. Indeed, Soul had had small amounts of black blood coursing through his systems leftover from his first encounter with the demon swordsman. The contagion had begun to mutate his body slightly, in fact it had been doing it for months. Maka was another concern. She'd dove straight into Crona's mind.

So Death did what he always did in these matters. "Spirit, what do you think I should do?"

"About what?"

"Crona Spirit, what should be done with him?" Death asked.

"Sounds like a fit of conscience." Spirit chuckled. "Alright, I think Crona should be placed under supervision, and not in that room he was locked in in the dungeon either. That room, psychologically its still a prison. Have him stay with Kid or maka so that he has an older sibling, or siblings, to look after him. And give him the same sort of therepy you'd have given Kid if he had a psychotic break. Only… tailored… to Crona. Just because he isn't running around trying to make everything symmetrical, doesn't mean Crona's not dealing with some anxiety of his own."

"I suppose you're correct, very well, prepare some chamomile tea and bring him in." Death told Spirit. Chamomile was what Death used to give Kid when he was riled. Anxiety and depression manifested in many ways.

The tea was brought in, and a few minutes later Spirit lead Chrona in gently by the hand. "Its okay." Spirit said quietly. "Death has been waiting for you."

"Hello, you must be Chrona, do have a seat, have some tea and refreshments as well, I had them brought up for our meeting." Death used his kindest voice.

Chrona was confused, and afraid, he looked up wide eyed at Death's mask, before nodding slightly and sitting at the table. He peered curiously at the sheets of paper stacked up neatly. Death noticed his gaze. "They're reports on the battle, and on your medical checkup Chrona. Sid expressed concern about your mental health and I thought I should speak with you myself."

Chrona nodded. "I… I don't expect mercy." He said quietly, sipping at the chamomile tea and nibbling at one of the mollassas cookies that had been brought up. "I followed Lady Medusa, and she said that Death kills witches."

"Aaaah, but you are /not/ a witch Chrona, nor are you a Kisshin. You are a Meister. I believe that Maka may be able to help you, so I'm going to give you another chance."

Chrona looked up.

"But Chrona, know this, you were given a gift, do not squander it. If you see /any/ sign of Medusa, well, we believe her to be dead but with witches anything can and does happen, if you see any sign of Medusa or her accomplices, /regardless/ of if its day or night, you are to come to me immediately, do you understand? The only possible excuse is if your legs are broken, in which case you can use the mirror to call for help."

"Yes sir." Chrona started to eat faster. That was a good sign. Death knew many things about the human body, he is, after all, a shinigami, and knew full well that death could come from the human mind as well as the body. And Chrona's mind was of particular concern to Death at the moment. But if the boy was taking food, it meant he was becoming more relaxed.

Death's expression softened slightly. "You'll be staying with my son, Kid, and Maka will be keeping an eye on you as well when she's not in class. When Kid and Maka are in school for the next week, you'll be with me, or another woman named Nygus. I don't think that dungeon is the safest place for you to be. And it must be cold down there."

"Thank you sir." Chrona brightened. He'd get to see Maka again, that was well worth it.

"You're welcome, we'll give you special lessons for a couple of weeks, then enroll you in the school, at which point I will appoint you a mentor and a tutor to help you."

The plate of cookies was nearly gone, when Ragnarok popped out. "CHRONAAAAA! SAVE ME SOME!" Ragnarok started pulling on Chrona's hair and hitting him in the head.

Death loomed up over Ragnarok. "You will unhand your Meister. Weapons attached to their Meisters at the hip, such as you, are in /no/ position to strike their /partners/." Death said sternly. Ragnarok gulped, pulling back inside Chrona's body.

Chrona started to cry.

"Oh dear, Chrona what is it?"

Chrona threw his arms around Death and wailed. "You saved me from Ragnarok! I'm so happy I don't know how to deal with it! Ragnarok takes my food away all the time at meals! And he beats me if I fail Lady Medusa, and he always says the grossest things! And one time he even pulled up my skirts!"

Spirit sighed, looping a comforting arm around Chrona. "Hey, forget about Medusa. She's a bitch." Spirit told Chrona. "Listen, the people here, we'll be your new family. When you get to know him Lord Death's a nice guy. Forget about Medusa, no mother does that to her child." The deathscythe urged. "You start a new life today. Forget about the past."

Chrona nodded. "I'll try."

"That's all that we ask of you Chrona." Death replied. "Tell me, is there anything you want to do now that you don't answer to Medusa anymore?"

"Do?" Chrona blushed. "Um… I don't know really." Chrona replied. "Er…"

Death smiled. "Then over the next few days I have a writing assignment for you." Death almost seemed to be smiling beneath the mask. "I want you to think of ten things you want to do with your life now that Medusa is gone."

"Like what?"

"Anything." Death said amiably. "No matter how strange, how simple, or how impossible it may seem."

Chrona got this cute headtilting expresson on his face. "er…"

"Its an assignment I give students to help them find direction." Death explained. "And to help them gain insight into their own desires." Death added. "Nygus will also be giving you a medication to help bring your anxiety level down."

Chrona bobbed his head a little, finishing off the cookies and chamomile tea. Death was talking to someone in a Mirror. Chrona peered past him, trying to see who he was talking to.

It didn't take long to reach the infirmary, Spirit opened the door. "here you go. Maka you have a visitor." He moved the door aside to reveal Crona.

"CRONA! You're okay!"

"MAKA!" Crona cried, reaching out to hug Maka tightly. "you're okay too!"

"Of course I'm okay, now what did Death say to you?"

"I'm going to be staying with KId." Chrona said shyly. "Death was worried about what would happen to me if i stayed in that dungeon."

"Just be careful of his Neurosis." Maka giggled.

"His what?" Chrona was confused.

"Kid is obsessed with making everything symmetrical." Maka explained. "To the point where he can't fight an opponent that fits his definition of symmetry."

"oh." Chrona blushed.

"Are you done talking about me like I'm not there?" Kid asked. "Whatever, I'll call Liz and Patti and tell them to have your room made up." Kid told Chrona. "Welcome to the family. Am I cleared to go Nygus?"

"Yes, your father will have an assignment for you in two weeks, so be ready." Nygus sighed.

"Two weeks?" Kid blinked.

Nygus pointed out the window. Vehicles and helicopters were converging on Death City. "Death is going to be making some improvements to the Castle's defenses, as well as adding a few comforts to help maintain morale. He's going to reinforce the prisons so that we don't have any problems with prisoners escaping or break-ins, then reopen the school. You guys have a two week break to enjoy yourselves."

"Excellent. I'll spend that time studying and training." Kid stood. So did Maka. "C'mon Chrona."

"Wait a second." Nygus unlocked a cabinet in the dispensery. "Kid this is your refill, you were nearly out if I recall, and Chrona this is for you."

"What is it?" The tiny bottle of pills was placed in his hands.

"An antidepressant." Nygus replied. "It will help you feel better Chrona. Just remember that a pill is no substitute for human interaction. Medicine alone isn't enough, you must get up the courage to reach out to fully recover."

Chrona nodded, blushing slightly and pocketing the medication. "Thank you Miss Nygus."

Night fell, Kid went to bed at exactly 8pm, as always. And at about midnight, the screaming from the next room woke him up. Kid ran in, Liz and Patti behind him, and found Chrona thrashing in the bed covers, tangled up. Somehow he'd thrashed enough to wrap his entire body in the sheets and blankets.

He was in the grips of a nightmare, Kid realized. "Chrona! Wake up!" Kid pealed off the blankets, trying to untangle Chrona. Chrona screamed again, sat up straight, and his lips accidentally connected with Kid's. Kid blushed, and then he realized Chrona was naked under the blankets he'd just torn off.

Liz and Patti were suffering simultaneous nosebleeds. But so was Kid. As Chrona's face rapidly started turning red at his mistake, Kid realized that Chrona was… well he wasn't a girl, but he wasn't a guy either.

A small female chest and feminine curves lead down to what was clearly a penis, /and/ a vagina. Kid flung the blankets back up over Chrona's body and fainted, blood spurting from his nose.

Chrona squealed, "oh no, I don't know how to deal with this!" He hid under the covers of his bed.

Kid recovered enough wits to yell. "LIZ, PATTI, get out!"

"Oh my god."

"Chrona's a He/she?"

"Explains why he's got so many issues. C'mon Patti." Liz dragged her still curious sister out of the room.

Chrona blushed, "I… I'm sorry Chrona." Kid said quietly. "I heard you screaming and thought you were hurt." Chrona peeked cutely from under the covers. Kid sighed, sitting down on the bed, Chrona's expression was so cute, and he wasn't sure what to say really. He shivered, what he'd seen, it had sent a rapidly strengthening current of lust to his groin. "I…"

"I've always been strange." Chrona said quietly. "Even my body is different from other peoples's. Its all hodge podge and ugly."

"You know… I think having both genders in one body is a great form of symmetry." Kid said with a glimmer in his eye. Not to mention a huge turn on, but he was trying to make Chrona feel better about his body. All kinds of extremely lustful thoughts that were normally /alien/ to Kid's emotional repertoire were flooding through his mind. And if he wasn't careful he was going to get a /big/ hardon. "Even if your physical appearance isn't that way on the surface." Chrona blushed. "Sometimes beauty is hidden." Kid replied.

He hugged Chrona tightly, though at the moment Kid /seriously/ wanted to jump Chrona and have sex with him. He knew that doing so would be a mistake. They'd /just/ become allies, he couldn't have sex with him immediately it would be rude! "If you have problems with nightmares, come to me okay? Now get some sleep."

As Kid walked away from the bed, he didn't notice the blush on Chrona's face as he left.

No, Kid was more interested in the erection between his legs, tormenting him, an erection that tented his boxers.

Liz stared at him as he walked across the hall back towards his room. "I didn't know you swung that way Kid."

"I am NOT gay, in case you didn't notice, he has female parts too."

"Yeah, keep telling yourself that. Have you noticed how Soul and Blackstar look at you?"

"They look at me /how/ exactly?"

"Like they both want to fuck you senseless." Liz said dryly. "Don't tell me you haven't seen it."

"er…" Kid groaned. Until Chrona had accidentally kissed him, until he'd seen his body, Kid had never thought much about sex aside from looking at women. And now… the thought that Blackstar and Soul might /both/ think of him in a sexual way he hadn't seen, well now Kid's hardon throbbed. "I need to get some sleep." Kid slammed his door shut, locked it, and curled up in bed. He blushed, and on second thought removed his pajamas and underwear as well.

Yeah, that was definitely an erection between his legs. Kid felt dirty doing it, but he decided to try an experiment. Instead of thinking of beautiful women, Kid thought of Chrona. He started stroking himself, and it felt a lot better than when he normally masturbated. Kid groaned, arching into his hand. Blushing, he paused, reaching to carefully bite the pillow to muffle his moans. Next, he tried thinking of Soul, the albino's milky skin, his wild hair and lazy posture.

~oh my god~ Kid thought. Thought made an incredible difference when he Masturbated. A mechanical function metamorphized into a far more powerful sensation.

Now to venture into far more dangerous (to Kid) territory. Blackstar. Kid tried picturing him naked, and wanted to rip the lines off his hair when he realized the idea of Blackstar /naked/ and /topping/ him turned him on.

The image came to mind unbid, of Blackstar topping him, of Soul's arms wrapped around his chest, of Kid /pounding/ into Chrona. And Kid felt his balls clench as he came, the pillow falling from his teeth long enough for his moan to ring out in the open air. "SHIT!" He slapped his hands over his mouth.

* * *

Kid wasn't the only one with sexual issues going on. As she passed his room to get a drink of water, Tsubaki heard Blackstar moaning. Concerned that her Meister might be sick, Tsubaki crept closer. She heard Blackstar's moan of "Soul… Kid…" his words were slurred. Was he delirious? Or had he finally gone against school rules, as he'd been threatening to do for over two years now, and snuck a drink while he was underage?

Tsubaki was not the kind to break down doors, instead she simply peered in the keyhole of Blackstar's room, and /instantly/ wished she hadn't.

Blackstar was flat on his back, legs in the air, masturbating. Tsubaki let out a shriek and ran to the safety of the kitchen. "oh. my. god." The expression on her face was hilarious. Massive nosebleed, huge blush from hair to collarbone. "Still, Blackstar never struck me as being gay. Oh well, he doesn't strike me as being sexual at all really. So him being interested in /anyone/ is a shock." She sighed, tending her nosebleed and going back to bed.

* * *

Maka had noticed a change in Soul for a awhile now, he'd been... quiet... somber sometimes and his normal self at others and that night she found him up late, watching "the Invention of Lying" and eating popcorn, and looking totally depressed. "Soul?"

"er… Maka… hi." Soul blushed.

"What's wrong Soul, has the little demon been giving you problems again?"

"er… no, just something different I'm thinking about. Its been on my mind lately."

"Oh…"

"Maka I… I'm not sure how to talk to you about it." Soul blushed, then growled. "damnit, totally uncool, now /I'm/ the shy one!"

"What is it?" Maka asked, yawning. "I've never seen you this flustered before. Its kinda weird."

Soul blushed. "Maka, please… don't think any less of me because I tell you this but…"

"Spit it out!"

"I think I'm gay." Soul's voice was almost a whisper.

Maka blinked, blushing hugely. "WHAAAAAAAAAAAAATTTT?"

"I knew you wouldn't understand, if you're freaked out I could move to a new…"

"no no no, its fine!" Maka blushed. "Its just a shock that's all. I… its okay Soul, I don't have a problem. Hell, you could even bring boys home with you if you liked."

Soul laughed. "that's good, I thought you were going to be jealous." He chuckled.

"Well I am kinda, but if you don't like girls, there isn't really anything I can do." Maka sighed. "However… er… do you mind if I talk to Spirit and Stein about this?"

"Why?"

"er well I… never really… thought about that sort of thing until you brought it up." Maka said quietly.

"You're kidding me!" Soul laughed. "You never thought of homosexuality until I said something? /or/ that your partner might swing that way?"

"Something like that yeah." Maka replied.

Soul's expression glimmered with mischief for a moment. "I don't mind, though I'll go along with you. I don't want them to get the wrong idea."

"So do you like anyone?"

"Hmm? I'm actually torn between going for Blackstar or Kid." Soul said with a sigh. "I mean, Kid seriously needs to get laid, hopefully it will help him to relax." Maka giggled a bit nervously.

* * *

"An /Onsen?/" blinked Maka, Soul, Kid, Liz, Patti, Blackstar, Tsubaki and Chrona.

"You mean in addition to beefing up the defenses of DWMA you're building an Onsen?" Clarified Maka.

They were standing outside the main castle, with about a hundred or so other students as Lord Death was explaining that they were going to have two weeks off from classes, but missions would still be running, so they expected the students to get at least one extra one done if they could. while some guy who kept going on about Coffee and Rumba stood next to him.

"The renovations are two fold, to beef up the defenses of the school, and to help improve the morale of its students. A sound soul dwells within a sound mind and a sound body. By improving the students morale, I am hoping that it will increase their chances of surviving a battle they would not were they fatigued. Dark days are ahead, and some of us may not make it back from our missions alive, some may crack under the pressure or be scarred for life. Having a sound mind, and a sound body, will even the odds a bit." Lord Death said, using both a fervent tone, and a bit of a... er... well as close to peppy as Shinigami-sama ever got.

"You'll also be taking a physical, all of you, sometime within the next few months as well as a psych eval to make sure that you're still healthy." Nygus added. "We will also be slightly changing the school menu to be higher in nutrients and lower in processed foods and planning a survival test as well so even though you have time off, keep studying and honing your skills."

"Physical education classes will be stepped up to make sure you're all in peak physical condition." Sid added. "I don't take any bullshit in my phys ed courses and I **will **work you to the bone. In addition, the deathscythes are returning to the castle and will be assisting both in missions and teaching classes." The crowd parted, and a procession of people began to walk up the steps.

"Right on cue! Welcome home my Deathscythes. Children, meet your new teachers." Death said proudly.

"I'm Marie Mjolnr! I'm going to be teaching history and co teaching first aid certification with Nygus."

"Justin Law, I'll be teaching English and hand to hand combat."

"Yumi Asuza, I'll be teaching survival skills, advanced mathematics, biological and natural sciences, and the top science grades in each year will be able to participate in Environmental Studies surveys with me later." Asuza added.

"YAHOO!" for once that wasn't blackstar who had that reaction. No, it was Ox, doing some kind of geeky victory dance with Havar.

Maka brightened as well, advanced classes? She could /totally/ make those!

"Right, so… while we do our work, you have two weeks off, keep training."

Joe spoke up. "The Onsen will be finished in another three days and will double as a thereputic facility for those recovering from battle. It will have public bathing rooms and private ones, as well as other amenities, please don't abuse it." He turned to leave.

"Right then children, away with you." Death said happily.

The crowd started to disburse, and Maka squealed, hopping over to Azusa. "hello, I'm Maka Albarn, I love science! How do I get into your class?"

"Yeah! how do we get in?" Ox and Havar chroused.

Stein laughed at Maka and then slipped away, with spirit tip toing after him. "So… what were you saying last night about wanting to give things another try?" Stein purred, looping his arms around Spirit's neck and pulling him into a possessive, dominating kiss.

"No dissections this time though."

"of course not, and were you serious?"

"About?"

"That you wanted to have another? I mean look at what happened to the first. It /hates/ you." Stein teased, gently pushing Spirit towards the lab and their bedroom.

* * *

About an hour later, Maka and soul finally got up the courage to talk to Stein and Spirit about homosexuality and…

"Stein? Stein?" Soul called, then looked around. "heh, I wonder where they are?"

Maka started opening doors, until she found the bedroom. She opened the door, then heard a moan and…

Maka had a nosebleed, torrential nosebleed, Spirit was on his back, legs spread lewdly wide while Stein was bent over him, licking at his…

Maka screamed, turned around, slammed the door and promptly passed out, blood squirting from her nose.

"Maka?"

"OH NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Spirit howled, "she saw us! OH HOW AM I GONNA EXPLAIN THIS TO MY MAKAAAAAAAAAAAAAA?"

Stein was… seriously turned off now, between being seen by Maka and then Spirit's wailing and bellyaching… yeah, "What was that about wantng to have another baby? So that it can wake you up in the middle of the night when we're having sex to clean its poop and so Maka can get jealous?"

"Shut up." Spirit dove for his clothes, and he and Stein quickly dressed. They each lit a cigarette, then opened the door. "Maka?"

Maka was curled up on the couch with Soul. "So what if your dad is gay, /I'm/ into guys and you accepted me."

"Yes but you're my weapon, he's my /father/ and not only that, he bent over for STEIN." Maka shivered.

"oh you make it sound so lewd." Stein grumbled, sauntering in, minus his shirt and smoking a cigarette. "Yeah, your father and I have been seeing each other for awhile, there's some stuff we didn't tell you and we're sorry. We didn't want to say anything until we thought you were old enough. And every time I asked spirit if he was ready to tell you about us he said 'nooooooo, my maka can't handle it, my poor maka!' Personally I think he was just embarassed and wanted to stay in the closet." Stein sighed.

"okay fine, so sue me for not wanting my sexual orientation to get out and my daughter to have a normal family life."

"Is that why you and momma…" Maka asked, blinking. "Spirit momma isn't a homophobe is she?"

The two looked at each other. "Maka, Kami is your godmother, you aren't genetically related." Stein replied.

"WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT?" Maka shrieked, fainting.

"MAKA!" Soul cried, catching her. "What the fuck do you mean?"

Maka's eyes were little curlicues. "You… you're… lying… everyone says I'm just like momma…"

"Legally she is your mother, she and Lord Death agreed to help us cover it up and doctor your birth certificate to reflect that. biologically you're Spirit and my Daughter." Thud. Maka fainted again.

"nice." Spirit sighed, getting up to start making tea. "Herbal tea always brings her around."

"Daddy you lie!" Maka yelled, this cute, bratty expression on her face that showed just how stressed she was. "Two men can't have kids." Soul was laughing. "Makaaaaa, CHOP!" And now he wasn't laughing, he was on the floor with a lump on his head.

"It's a very rare mutation among male weapons. Particularly the more powerful ones with more /protective/ instincts or feminine natures."

"Giggle, giggle, Justin, giggle." Spirit giggled.

"How rare are we talking?" Maka head tilted. Rare mutations in male weapons, something she could wrap her brain around.

"Typically, known and unknown, the amount of male weapons who have it can be counted on one hand." Replied Spirit. "It also doesn't descrimenate gay or straight, which means there could be straight weapons who have it that just haven't been found out yet. The people who /do/ have this mutation typically only find out when its too late and they've been knocked up."

"Justin? wait you mean that deathscythe guy who's gonna be teaching one of our classes?" Soul blinked.

"Yeah, now maka, listen to me, if you ever have kids, well, you carry the gene. Its recessive though, to actually have it, two recessive copies of the gene have to meet. As opposed to simply being a carrier." Stein watched Maka's expression carefully. If she was like he was at that age, then when she got confused she'd likely try to use science to help her put it in perspective.

Maka realized what he was doing. He was helping her to absorb it better by being scientific. "in other words keep an eye on my kids in case they grow up to be as pervy as papa." Maka giggled. "Actually, Soul and I wanted to talk to you… about homosexuality… er…" She sighs.

"I came out to her last night." Soul replied. "It unnerves her a bit but she's not… or wasn't… that upset about it. When she wanted to talk to her father and teacher about it, I told her I'd come with her to support her."

"Whaaaaa? Maka you can't seriously be questioning your sexuality already can you?" Spirit's turn to /almost/ faint.

"WHAT? No!" Maka cried. "er… I'm not sure…"

"Its genetic love." Stein purred. "Maka, don't decide overnight what your sexuality is and don't let yourself be limited by labels. This is something /you/ need to decide for yourself. I know its easier for you to understand things that scare you or confuse you if you use academia and science, but matters of the heart are often best decided on an individual basis." Stein said with a small smile. He sat down on the couch, and Spirit brought over a tray of beakers containing herbal tea. Maka took one, grimacing at the fact that she was drinking out of a beaker.

"Yeah… honestly, my brain stopped working when I saw you giving my /dad/ a blowjob." Maka's face twitched. "And when my brain stops working due to something shocking, I go into "Logic" mode, where I try to rationalize it with academia."

Stein laughed. "you take after me more than you think."

"Dissection is creepy!" Maka stuck her tongue out at Stein. "Don't expect me to call you daddy too, even thinking it is going to take some time." She sipped the tea. "And I'm /getting/ you some decent teacups. Since you're technically my father its not appropriate." She frowns. "now that I think about it… some of the traits I was told I inherited from Momma I could have inherited from Stein. And the fact that daddy gave birth to me instead, explains his overly maternal /bizarre/ behavior."

Stein laughed. "yeah, sometimes after having kids, male weapons can get… er… weird… with behavior concerning their offspring."

"Daddy?" Maka finished her tea. "I need some time to think, and I… er… I think I'm gonna talk to Tsubaki alone. See if she'll tolerate letting me kiss her to see if I like girls or not."

Spirit blinked, "now wait a minute…"

"WHAT?"

"You called me daddy, you never do that."

"You're right." Maka said dryly. "Though it would be strange to call you mommy."

"As for Tsubaki, I don't really think you should rush off to…"

"on the contrary, Tsubaki is likely the best person to ask, because of her tolerant and empathetic nature." Stein replied. "Let her be Spirit, she has to figure it out for herself and she's safe experimenting with Tsubaki and to a certain extent, if she felt adventurous she could with the Thompson Twins."

Maka blushed, getting up and hurriedly excusing herself.

"THAT'S AN IMAGE!" laughed Soul as soon as she couldn't hear him. "Maka with Liz and Patti? Watch out world! She'd be using Maka chop more on Patti than she does on me and Spirit combined!" He got up and walked away. "Thanks guys, I'm feeling a bit better about my sexuality now. And about Maka being able to deal with it. She may not like Spirit, but perhaps her own parents being two gay men will help her accept me, and herself, more."

"Heh, hopefully." Stein said with a chuckle, he pulled Spirit into his arms. "Spirit was whining last night about wanting to have another baby."

"Good god… just don't make me go out to buy things for his cravings? Or leave me in the room with his moodswings." Soul said with a small smile on his face as he walked out the door. "I hate to quote Chrona but, that's one thing I don't know how to deal with!" he laughed, and then Soul was gone, calling out. "MAKA! HEY MAKA WHERE ARE YOU?"


	2. Chapter 2

"SUCK ON IT!" That was Ragnarok. Kid's head turned around at the demon sword's outburst.

"NOOOOO! RAGNAROK QUIT IT!" Ragnarok was trying to shove a lollypop in Chrona's mouth.

Ragnarok spotted Kid and his attempts to get Chrona to suck on the lollypop doubled. "You IDIOT! I'm trying to get you laid!" Ragnarok whined. "SUCK on it! Gay guys can't resist a cutie pie like you sucking on a lollypop!" Ragnarok urged. "If you do that, you'll tempt Kid, you'll be one step closer to getting him to have sex with you!"

"Who said I wanted to have sex with him?" Chrona asked.

"Says the hard on between your legs last night and the wet dreams you thought I didn't see. I have to say, the idea of having Blackstar fucking your ass was scary enough, but the things you dreamed /Kid/ doing?" Ragnarok cried crocodile tears. "I'm so proud, my darling Chrona is growing a libido! He'll be growing chest hair and boobies next!"

Kid couldn't hear /everything/ going on. But Ragnarok's yell of "SUCK ON IT!" had made him jump. Then Chrona finally relented, after all, Ragnarok /never/ shared sweets, and sat there boredly sucking on the lollipop. Kid blinked, then just shook his head. What was so attractive about a guy licking sweets anyway?

Ragnarok looked up and looked /right/ into Kid's eyes then mouthed. 'You know you want him.' Making several rude, suggestive gestures. "Great, now he's being a matchmaker?" Kid wondered.

Kid's cock /had/ throbbed a bit at the thought of Chrona giving him a blow job, but he suddenly had a mental image of Ragnarok popping out of Chrona's back and doing something /completely/ mood killing if he tried.

"heh, looks like Ragnarok is having fun tormenting you." Liz sighed, face twitching. "Ignore him Kid, Ragnarok's a fucking troll." They were in the library, doing some studying. But at some point Marie had pulled Chrona to her table, the Death Scythe intent on meeting the Demon Swordsman for some reason or another. In fact, all the Deathscythes were in the library at the moment, working on their lesson plans. Azusa was pouring over something with Joe. Joe seemed to just shake his head. "You're looking at at least a week of in class primers. But Azusa-san, I have /everyone's/ projects on my plate at the moment. I'm just lucky the first few are easy."

"Troll?" In fact almost everyone, student and teacher were at the library due to the lack of classes, it was crowded.

"He delights in provoking people, that's a TROLL. And right now, he just wants to either get you to have sex with his Meister, and I'm assuming you're holding back on that for a reason, or to make you get a hard on in public."

"How vile!" Kid exclaimed.

"Don't tell me you're the shy kind. Or is it your OCD? You know some people with OCD have trouble with their sex life because they start to see it as dirty."

"Honestly? I don't truly know." Kid replied. "I've never considered having sex with anyone, man or woman, until I walked in on Chrona last night. Now… er… well I'd rather not talk about the dreams I had last night. But I... er... its not proper to have sex with someone you just met unless they want it. I'm not a beast. And he needs to get used to people, he shouldn't be having sex when he can't even deal with social settings such as classes. Is that... are those kinds of dreams... /normal/?" Kid knew the fundementals of sex, insert cock A into hole B. Knew the natural sensitive points on a person's body. But nothing really more than that.

Liz laughed. "oh yeah, when I went through puberty I had dreams like that all the time. Then when I came here and saw all the attractive men /and/ women that frequented the place. Well, the fun one involved Tsubaki and a strap on and my ex boyfriend on a stripper pole. Then there was the dream I had where my er... fan poster, of Azusa-sensei came to life it was... er... bizzare... but wet dreams involving celebrities aren't uncommon so I figure it was one of those."

Kid shivered. "How can you /enjoy/ dreams so… disturbing?"

"Did /you/ enjoy yours?"

"Very much, which is why I don't understand them."

Liz's face was bored, but she was trying to figure out how to put her meister more at ease when it came to sex because she knew if she didn't it could be a problem for his neurosis later. Then she slowly got up, walked over to Kid, and placed a hand on his shoulder. Kid felt a slight shock, as Liz tried to figure out what was going through his mind by linking their soul wavelengths. Kid spaced out in his chair, and found himself sitting on a Cliffside at the grand canyon, the sun coming up over the red rock and setting it magnificently aglow, it was the room in Liz' mind, many weapons and meisters had them. Kid had never seen Liz's mind before. Despite the Asymmetry of the room, it was... soothing, calm... invigorating.

"Look Kid, I figured it was better we have this conversation in here. Sex, and wanting to have sex, is part of growing up and being a teenager. I don't want you to be uncomfortable with it because that's denying an important part of your /soul/. And I want you to understand that, sex is as much spiritual as it is physical because you are giving a piece of yourself to that person. Getting a libido and having those kinds of interests and dreams just mean that an important part of your heart is starting to mature. If you /constantly/ deny that libido or consider it unclean, illogical, sinful, or disgusting, its going to come back to bite you on the ass. If you're holding back out of consideration for Chrona, or out of some kind of moral concern like saving it for marriage or whatever, that's /fine/ but if you're doing it because you're scared, then find some way to deal with it. Fear is NOT healthy for a Meister, and you seem to have more than your share of problems with your neurosis."

"Liz…" Kid sighed, blushing furiously. He hadn't expected this kind of talk, but she was right on both counts. He was sexually attracted to Chrona, a shinigami tended to have a /beast/ of a libido. And when he examined his feelings Kid could feel a powerful lust towards the demon meister that he would be hard pressed to control. He could not consider this feeling to be in any way sinful, indeed he did not, his neurosis didn't seem to have any reactions to thoughts of sex, it was just his polite upbringing and gentlemanly nature that kept him from acting like, for example, Spirit. And in a way, Liz was right, Sex /was/ a matter of souls, not just a matter of physical pleasure. So if he did decide to go ahead and ask Chrona to have sex with him he had to find a way to make it the best experience of the demon swordsman's life. "you're right, but for your information my OCD does /not/ make me think of sex as repulsive. Its just my gentlemanly nature to hold back, nothing more. I want to sweep him off his feet, not physically use him."

"Thats why I went with you and nobody else." Liz chuckled. "you sure swept me and Patti, I've always thought of you as a little brother, and older siblings give younger ones the best advice they know how. C'mon, you can talk to me. Especially in my mind where nobody can hear us. Why are your wet dreams so disturbing to you?"

"I… I didn't just dream about Chrona… Blackstar and Soul were in it too. And to me… hell I HATE Blackstar. I can't STAND him." Kid blushed. "And suddenly I'm dreaming about him… SHIT!" Kid couldn't really… articulate. "And yes, I'm SCARED. I dreamed that my best friends and someone I'm supposed to take care of took turns putting their /penises/ in my /ass!/ And when I find one of those friends /sexually repulsive…/" Kid shivered. "I don't like Blackstar, not that way. Or at least I don't think I like him."

"maybe…" Liz said with a chuckle. "you find Blackstar attractive because he's asymmetrical?"

"WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA?" Kid nosebled /and/ eyebled.

"Don't get your panties in a twist. Patti and I both go for bad boys and thugs. The violent rebellious sort. Maybe the reason why some part of you finds Blackstar attractive is because he's indicative of a /type/. He's a badboy, a loudmouth, no I think he fits more in the Flyboy Jock category. Eeeeh, not quite, close enough but its hard to put /that/ one into a category. But I mean, Soul has that bad boy vibe too just in a different, quieter, calmer way. It seems to me that you have a type. Either the bad boy jock type or the emo girly type, or even /both./"

"But that's INSANE! How could I be having wet dreams about someone who's Asymmetrical?" Kid demanded.

"My opinion? You're a spoiled naïve rich boy, you've come far since we met, but you're a rich boy taught to be an upright citizen of the law, meant to take over your father's title. There's no real freedom for you to misbehave, there's no freedom for you to /really/ let your hair down and act wild. So you're attracted to the sort of person who /has/ that freedom you never could. You have a repressed wild side, a destructive subconscious and you like people who display that wild side openly because you can't. Because of this, you're /attracted/ to bad boys."

"That actually sounds a bit more logical." Kid said with a sigh, "Liz, do you really think of me as your little brother?"

"Duh, I wouldn't tolerate your crap otherwise." Liz said with a chuckle.

"Helloooooo, Kid? Liz?" Maka's voice broke them out of their reverie. "you two okay?" They were jerked out of their trance by Maka, staring at them with her soul perception. "That must be some conversation if you're having it inside your souls."

"I was explaining to Kid about having a 'Type.' You know these naïve rich boys, they need tough poor girls like me and Patti to keep their heads on straight. If not for us, they'd /never/ be firmly grounded in reality."

Soul laughed. "not cool dude, of course… I could keep Kid grounded in reality. When I become a deathscythe he'll have to use me someday!"

"A /type/ huh? Lemme guess, well groomed, clean cut, well mannered, and perfectly symmetrical with an intelligent and sensitive mind and refined taste, in other words, someone who's so perfect they don't exist." Maka giggled. "The perfect man, or perfect woman, doesn't exist Kid, so technically you don't have a type, because nobody is as perfect as your neurosis would prefer them to be!"

Kid stood up, slammed his chair into maka's knees, and stormed out. "Bitch."

Maka was too stunned to Maka Chop, Kid /cursed/? And acted violent? Who knew?

"Damn…" Ragnarok whined. "Maka-chaaaaaaaan! You scared away Kid, now you must give me candy or pinky here gets it!" He brandished tiny white fists at Maka.

"Why do /you/ care if Kid left the room?" Maka asked, then realized that Chrona had a lollypop in his mouth and was licking it delicately. Almost... sexually. She glared death at Ragnarok, brandishing a twelve inch long, two inch thick copy of Guiness Book of World Records. "Wait, you never give Chrona sweets. Were you trying to corrupt Chrona's innocence?"

"No." Ragnarok said innocently, an /enormous/ sharky grin on his face. "I was trying to give Kid a woody!"

Maka turned a bit green. "I don't want to know." She turned and walked away. "No candy for you, if you reward a dog for being bad, it learns to be bad all the time!"

* * *

"Azusa?" Asked Death, it was only noon, and already Azusa was coming to him?

"Death, I'd like permission to use /them/ for the initiation of Spartoi."

"So how exactly are the sisters? Excalibur hasn't been bothering them has he? When he pays them a social visit, they won't work with anyone for weeks and for what you have in mind, they must be content enough to do their duty."

"Ooooh, Excalibur's been taken care of." Azusa giggled.

Azusa had borrowed some equipment from JB and set up holograms to create a fake audience in Excalibur's cave. The blustery sword would be busy with the fakes for /days/ if they were lucky. So it was mean spirited to trick Excalibur like that, if he decided to randomly pay "the Fates" a visit, the four goddess weapons would be so angry, they wouldn't teach Meisters what they were supposed to learn from them.

Everyone who knew about them knew that the Fates, also known as "The Watchtowers" and "The Sisters," loathed Excalibur with a passion, while Excalibur /enjoyed/ their company. To the point where the insufferable Legendary Weapon had been banned from entering the shrines where the Watchtowers were sealed. That didn't stop him though, and last time, when he'd tried to give the ringleader Vera Joyeuse a 5 hour storytelling party, she'd screamed so loud she was heard a mile off and refused to do her job for /six months./

"Good." Death said calmly. "Then Azusa, go see the fates."

* * *

"oh we'll do it." Vera told Azusa. "But on one condition. Put that IDIOT brother of mine in a straight jacket and lock him in his cave for one month, ONE month and keep him there. Then we'll help out however many meisters and weapons lord death wants us to!"

"And you must take pictures! As black ma… I mean proof!" A slightly younger female voice giggled. "Yes proof, that's all it is… its not like we're going to have them spread all over the internet with graffiti on them in order to tarnish Oni-chan's almighty legend!"

Four weapons sealed in their forms permanently, only able to change their arms and heads back. One of whom, Vera, who used to be named Joyeuse, was once the personal weapon of Charlamane, the great hero of Europe. "Imooto, we can think of ways to get revenge on our Oniichan later, right now I'm trying to strike a beneficial bargain." A face, with long elegant flowing black hair and brilliant, ultramarine blue eyes was reflected back at Azusa. "Azusa-chaaaaaan… if you lock up Excalibur for a month, complete with straight jacket and give us pictures to prove it, then we'll perform Gaia Resonance every night for an entire month."

"Er… deal…"

* * *

"Why are we with you again?" Kilik asked as he, Ox, Thunder, Fire and Havar approached Excalibur's cave with Azusa four hours later.

"Death wants a friend of his to do something for him, that friend /hates/ Excalibur. With a vengeance, and will only do it if we lock him up and prove we have by showing him a picture. There should already be a hologram giving him a fake audience to fool him. We just have to restrain him, take a picture and seal him in. Death gave me a special restraint that's ranged, but I can't move the gears to close the door on my own. The two of you stay out here."

"Are you sure he's not going to try to escape?"

"I believe Excalibur should know what this restraint means by now." Azusa sighed.

Sure enough, the legendary blade was just finishing his 5 hour storytelling party to the fake audience and was starting to dance and sing his song. Azusa blended into the holographic crowd, and powered up the restraint. It was... a slingshot? Yes, appearance you placed a special glowing pellet into the slingshot. Still, Azusa was not a master marks woman for nothing.

The pellet knocked over Excalibur and grew into a straight jacket made of light. It had some kind of sedative worked into it. And when Azusa broke cover Excalibur was drifting off to blissful sleep, slowly changing back into weapon form. Azusa took a picture of him in the straight jacket before he changed fully and placed him in his proper stand. "G'night Excalibur-san." She turned and walked out. "Come on fairies, you can either come out and have a vacation, or stay in here with him." Azusa told them.

Azusa need not have said anything they were already gone, not a single fairy remained. Azusa smiled, remembering during her school days when she had decided to meet the legendary weapon, and see what secrets he'd had to impart, only to find out what Excalibur was really like.

How had the watch towers /ever/ lived with that?

"Alright boys, lets roll." Azusa positioned herself at a large set of gears hidden conveniently behind a boulder. "Each of you take a spoke, push, and at the same time pour as much of your spiritual wavelength as you can into it as you possibly can. I'll do the same."

As they pushed, and poured energy into the gears, they began to move, and a large chain link metal barrier, combined with a powerful soul wavelength to reinforce it, rolled slowly over the entrance. "There we go. That should hold him." Azusa said happily.

"No sign... okay we'd better leave a thermos of coffee with cream." Azusa pulled out several large black thermos' and a note. "There we go, now at least he can have /one/ of his thousand provisions." The boys snickered. "Yes, I think just one will do."

For Excalibur, truly the next month was going to be hellish. Yes, absolutely hellish. Many who had suffered under his cane would celebrate tonight. When Azusa checked on the cave the following morning, she found the fairies drunk outside it, sleeping blissfully in the morning sun.

* * *

Kid had once more found himself sharing a bed with Chrona. Yes, Chrona had another nightmare. But he found it... peaceful... he certainly found it comfortable despite the sensual tone his dreams had taken. Well, he could always cultivate a relationship. He didn't want to start one off with sex though. Still, Kid's dreams had become highly sexual in nature, most of them involving Chrona, but Soul and Blackstar appeared at least once in it.

He sat up in bed, then headed to the bathroom to clean himself off. Didn't take long so Kid went back to bed and fell asleep again.

And this time his dream wasn't sensual in the slightest, it was... strange... and sad... it was a dream familiar to Kid, but one he hadn't had in a long time.

_"Lord DEATH!" The yell was urgent. Kid had been having a lesson with his father in the death room, he was only six then._

_Sid, a much younger, human Sid, stood in the doorway with Nygus. "Its Stella! Death the op went bad, /really/ bad."_

_"Stella is she?"_

_Stella, that was Kid's mother._

_"I'm sorry, Justin is /barely/ alive. She saved him... Lord Death I'm so sorry..."_

_Back then, Death had a humanoid form, much like Kid's, he only took that silly shape with the robes when he had to fight. He was incredibly handsome, large golden eyes, elegant chestnut hair, an absolutely /perfect/ chiseled face, clean shaven. Everything about his father's humanoid form was /perfect./_

_Death's eyes /glowed/. And Kid knew that that didn't bode well. Kid could feel it down his father's wavelength, rage, anguish, such a deep sadness. "Stella..." Death sat, hard, down at his table._

_Justin and Stella had been sent on a mission. Just a simple low level witch, okay so witches were hard for your /average/ weapon and meister pair, but Stella was /awesome/ and Justin was sure to become a Deathscythe someday! Together they were unbeatable._

_His father appeared completely numb. "Sid-kun, what happened?" Kid asked quietly. "Momma... what happened to her?"_

_"I'm sorry Kid, she was ambushed." Nygus bent down to stroke Kid's hair gently. "The High Witch herself busted their operation. And for the Last of the Romany Family and a single, lone weapon? No mercy."_

_There was a soft sob from Death's direction, and Kid knew his father was not unaffected. And it slowly dawned on the young child that his mother wasn't coming back. Kid started to cry, trying very hard to suck his tears back in and be strong. "its alright Kid, let it out..."_

_"I can't cry. I shouldn't be crying. A Grim Reaper, must learn to cope with the deaths of those around him." Kid sobbed."Certain is death for the born, and certain is birth for the dead." _

_Lord Death looked over, standing up and walking over to Kid and hugging him. "I'm so sorry son... I... I loved her. Now listen closely to me, you must never tell any enemy your mother's name Kid, if you do, you could be in big trouble. They will hunt for you and kill you. Do you understand? If the Head Witch Maba finds out who your mother is, she /will/ kill you."_

_"yes father. I will keep it a secret."_

_"your mother left an important gift for you when you come of age. When its time, I will tell you the story she no longer can, I promise."_

_Kid just cried, curling up in a ball in his father's arms and crying. Sid and Nygus stayed for awhile, but they left Father and son alone._

_A few days later, Kid got sick, he was sick at his mother's funeral, and a week or so later, the neurosis began. There was a change in Lord Death as well, one day Kid walked into the Death room and his father was in his Reaper form._

_And he never changed back after that. Kid got used to it, and eventually 'father' in his mind was no longer that golden eyed, brown haired man, but a large... squishy... black being with a mask for a face, and glowing eyes. Only as a teenager later on did Kid understand. Death was so broken hearted over losing his mother, that he gave up all semblance of human form out of that pain._

_Kid learned to bury the pain, after all, he had other things to worry about. Like why everything suddenly had to be perfectly orderly and symmetrical. Why suddenly everything had to be routine, nothing could change... words were said, OCD, anxiety disorder, neurosis... the doctor kept thinking it was the loss of his mother that had done it. But Stein didn't agree. He thought this was more than simply grief triggering the OCD, and so it proved to be, but that is a story for another day. _

Kid sat up straight, checking the clock. 3am.

Chrona was sleeping restlessly, and Kid realized that Chrona had also moved during the night, a brief check in the bathroom and Kid giggled, realizing that Chrona must have had the same problem he had, and figured out on his own how to 'Deal with it.'

"Good god, I need to ask him out on a date soon." Kid muttered. "Before the both of us go crazy." Kid moved to the window, opening it. Something was /off./ Then he felt it...

A wavelength, beautiful, serene, selenic... sad even. When Kid tried to tune into it, he felt... a distinct sense of nostalgia. A hypnotic soul wavelength? No, there was no attempt to control in there. There was no attempt to mislead or override, it was simply directing his attention to a time past. He felt... like going through the family albums of when he was a child. It was as if the voice was /reminding/ him to remember those who have gone before, to think about his mother, and to some degree his father.

He moved to one of the mirrors and dialed Maka's house. "Maka here... Kid? What are you doing up so late?"

"Can you feel it? Open your window, look out it, use your soul perception and tell me what you see."

"okay..." Maka moved with the mirror, and Kid realized she was using a compact mirror to answer the call. "oh wow... the soul thats making that wavelength is very far out in the desert, but its range is /huuuugee/ its like its using the entire earth as a focus. But its not malicious, I don't see the red of a kisshin or the purple of a witch, and the wavelength isn't made for combat, its more sad than anything else, no, not sad nostalgic. I don't think you should worry about more than strange dreams, you can't tell at first but I think its rooted in place. Or at least thats what it feels like, the source of the wavelength is stuck wherever its located, hence its long range."

"Kay Maka... hey um... what were you dreaming about?"

"Momma of course!" Maka yawned. "Well I'll see you Kid. I wanna go back to bed."

Maka turned from her compact mirror. "Soul?"

Soul was sitting up, rubbing his eyes. "Who's making music? I thought it was the red demon again but he was drunk and half asleep and my piano was playing on its own..."

"There's someone far distant releasing a soothing soul wavelength, feel for yourself." Maka pointed to the window. "Nothing to worry about though. I think its some kind of ritual or something. Not an attack."

"I was dreaming about my brother..."

* * *

Tsubaki was sound asleep, until she found herself poured into a familiar world. "Brother? What do you want?" Tsubaki's brother, Masamune, who now dwelled within her after she ate his soul, tended to only call her into his part of their shared mind when he wanted something. His attitude had improved since she'd put him to rest, but he still acted strange sometimes, Tsubaki couldn't tell if it was grief or the typical demon weapon insanity.

Masamune looked up. "I didn't call you." A pause. "You can't feel that?"

"Feel what?"

"A /really/ powerful weapon is resonating right now... with the entire /earth./ Her wavelength started to spread over the city and suddenly you were in here. But I didn't call you in here sister, you came here on your own."

"Perhaps this wavelength has something to do with family?" Tsubaki mused thoughtfully. "Perhaps its designed to bring families together."

"It could be." Masamune replied. "Blood is a powerful thing, and in one's mind, one's family are of enormous significance. Look at us."

"Yes, perhaps its some kind of religious service planned for Shibusen or something..."

"Well, Lord Death does like to surprise people. I doubt he'd make you go to Church or something though. You are quite saintly but I think you'd go mad in one."

"You're trying to tease me again." Tsubaki sighed. "Well well Brother, have you grown civilized?"

"My mind is considerably more sane towards you. Blackstar remains to be seen however."

"You don't like my Meister do you?"

"He claims to wish to be a god, many have attempted to walk that path, many have fallen along it. If he wishes to impress me walking it, then he must do better. Do you like the form I appear to him in? I could tell you didn't want me to show up as me or he'd be suspicious."

"I see." Tsubaki yawned. "Yes. Its quite striking and it fits you very well, but I have to go back to sleep brother."

"Yes I know, though I no longer need sleep. I'll keep watch." Then a pause. "Oh dear, seems your god is having a nightmare." He sighed, disappearing with a poof of smoke, and so did Tsubaki. "Better tend to your Diety, /supplicant./"

* * *

Blackstar was screaming in his sleep. "Daddy, no don't do it, dad!" Tsubaki ran in to find her Meister thrashing in his sleep. "Daddy don't do it! don't hit me please! don't! it hurts don't do it!"

"Blackstar! Wake up!" Tsubaki shook Blackstar to wake him, crying. The words 'don't hit me, please!' made her blood run cold. Had Blackstar been abused? She knew his parents had turned into Kisshin eggs. "Blackstar are you okay?"

Blackstar snapped awake, shaking. He wasn't crying, he never did if he could help it. "T... Tsubaki... I was dreaming about... about my clan... about how they... I saw my father die, he was hitting me so hard. The others were killed by Death, but my father... Tsubaki it was Mifune who killed him! I saw him! Mifune killed my DAD!"

"It was a dream Blackstar!" Tsubaki said comfortingly, stroking his teal colored hair. "Someone is releasing a wavelength for some kind of ritual. It makes people dream about their families."

"Fuck..."

"Blackstar?" Tsubaki questioned.

"I almost cried. Gods don't cry. I can't cry. I CANT cry."

Tsubaki sighed. "It doesn't bother you dreaming about your father?" Then. "You can cry in front of me Blackstar, I won't tell anyone."

"Why should it? He was a bastard, he ate souls, and he got what should happen to those who eat the souls of an innocent." Blackstar laughed. "Cry in front of you? I already said it Tsubaki so don't be silly. I can't cry! Gods don't have tears!"

"I see..." Tsubaki could tell that Blackstar was lying, and she begged to differ about the Gods Don't Cry part. He was scared, and he felt like his father betrayed him. Blackstar wanted to cry, but she knew he wouldn't do it in front of her. "I'll leave you alone then." She got up, closed the door, and went back to bed. Sure enough, a few minutes later sobbing noises came from Blackstar's room.

* * *

There was silence in the library, especially the section labeled level 4. A single book stood out slightly on the shelf. The light was too dim to make out more than a few letters of the title. "Bo f ibon. An Ominous crack formed in the book's spine, and a tiny voice within muttered. "oh my dearest me, VERA TONE IT DOWN!" It was British, but not like Excalibur's, in fact, it was a bit... more bookish, a bit weaker... it was lacking... bluster... lacking arrogance, or aggression, it was stiff and formal, whatever the voice was, it quickly subsided with an. "oh dear oh dear oh dear... dratted Vera, she never could contain herself. She knows how badly her wavelength can interfere with the Master's works. She had a /thing/ for messing up Eibon's work as a prank."

* * *

As Death awoke from his dreams of Stella, Kid's mother, once his wife, he smiled to himself. "aaah, Vera you never could resist the chance to make a show. I believe that means we have a deal. Thank you."

Vera's face appeared on Death's mirror. "You're welcome milord, you should put her behind you. Honor her always, but put her behind you. Surely Kid would want a father who's more like him in appearance?"

"I suppose. Though I never intend on dressing so... stiffly... as he does." Death sighed.

"Poor Stella. She was the best of the best. Even better than Kami. Even better than Stein. She /taught/ Stein!" Vera sighed blissfully. "Aaaaah, the good times."

"And Kami always resented that. But the Romany Family are a different breed. Even Kid." Death sighed. Ah yes, the Romany Family had given Shibusen many powerful weapons and Meisters over the years. He hadn't been interested in Kid's many times over ancestress, Strega, but Strega's many times grand daughter Stella was a different story. "And their blessings are with us still." Death said with a small smile.

* * *

The next day, Kid woke up at his usual time, and decided to stay in bed a bit. Chrona had rolled over in his sleep, so that his head was resting cutely on Kid's shoulder. Kid blushed, and felt /another/ raging hardon springing from between his legs.

"Morning..." Chrona yawned, opening his eyes slowly. "Kid! KID! I dreamed about this girl with pink hair, and a big fire with lots of drums, and she said she wanted to play with me! I don't know how to deal with that! I don't know how to play! Lady Medusa never let me play anything! But she said it would be alright and if I learned how to play I could come back and play with her!"

Kid chuckled, realizing that Chrona must have seen some of the witches he was descended from. And while he puzzled over it for a few moments, he couldn't resist his urges this early in the morning, he leaned down to kiss Chrona gently on the lips. Chrona let out a cute little squeak. "I... don't know how to deal with that either..." He mumbled, blushing deeply. "I like it though. Can you do that again sometime?"

Kid chuckled throatily. "Perhaps I should show you how to deal with it then..." Kid purred, pulling Chrona into another kiss, deeper this time. He coaxed, gently, nibbling at Chrona's lower lip. When he gasped, Kid delicately snaked his tongue inside, tasting the demon swordsman's mouth. Chrona moaned, snaking his arms around Kid's neck and snuggling closer, twining his tongue with Kid's. Both were inexperienced, Chrona was shy, Kid was wanton. Kid felt his heart trembling. It was as if electricity were arching through his body, from his head, down to his feet, penetrating all the way to his soul.

When they finally broke for air, Chrona sighed blissfully, resting his head on Kid's chest. "I liked that. Can we do it again?"

"Sure..." Kid bent down to kiss Chrona again but then the mirror went off.

"Hey Kiiiiiid, did you forget that new gaming system comes out today?" Blackstar demanded on the channel. "C'mon, if we don't hurry we'll miss it. We're meeting at my house. We'll buy the system and spend the afternoon playing video games."

"Gaming system?"

"There's a new portable gaming system coming out, as well as a "mario arcade" game. All the classic Mario games up to 64 in one collection for Wii." Kid rolled his eyes. "I suppose Blackstar could teach you how to 'play' better than I. I never really learned how to 'play' either." He kissed Chrona again, briefly. "I'm sorry that got cut short, I'll make it up to you when the Onsen opens tomorrow, kay?" He asked, stroking Chrona's cheek.

There was this... bright /blush/ rising in Chrona's cheeks, and this small smile appeared on his face that Kid found very alluring. "Kid... I... sure... can I just... join you tonight too?"

"Of course." Kid chuckled. "And I'll take you to lunch today too. I know a nice little place in town. Just us two okay? It will be our date."

* * *

"Done early?" Maka blinked at Joe.

The coffee lover laughed. "Not quite. The Onsen will be done by tonight, just gotta put the finishing touches in. Do me a favor, pass on to your friends that Lord Death wants you guys to test out the facilities."

"Sure." Maka's eyes glittered dangerously. "Its been awhile since I've been pampered. Ooooooh, I'll grab Tsubaki, Liz and Patti and make it a girls night!" She darted off.

* * *

"YEAAAAAH! I WIN!" Blackstar had dragged all the boys to his house to play Mario. And won the last five rounds.

"I want to try." Chrona whined. "Kid said you could teach me how to play because you play so well."

"Give me that!" Chrona blinked as Ragnarok popped out of his head and grabbed two of the controllers.

And that was how Chrona ended up beating Blackstar's score in Super Mario World, though Ragnarok beat him immediately after. Of course Blackstar couldn't believe it, so he made Chrona do it again. And again. "how the hell do you do so well at video games?" Demanded Blackstar.

"Er... I just don't fail." Chrona replied, clearly confused.

"i'm guessing if Chrona failed at anything he was beaten by his mother." Soul spoke up, he'd been munching on a bag of chips. "So he simply developed reflexes so good he didn't fail. If you compare video games to combat? Heh, no comparison of difficulty. He'd pwn us /all!/"

"Er... something like that yeah." Chrona drooped. "is doing well in video games bad? I can lose on purpose if being good at them is bad."

"no no no no!" Kid exclaimed. "Blackstar's ego is wounded thats all! Right Blackstar? Just the ego!"

"Uh... yeah I'm just surprised thats all!" Blackstar said cheerfully. "Hahahahahaha! Thats /awesome/ Chrona! You're so full of win you're /almost/ better at video games than I am!"

Kid wanted to punch Blackstar, hard, but he settled for smirking at Blackstar over the book he was reading.

That was when Maka ran in. "guys! The onsen will be ready tonight! We get to test the baths before anyone else does!"

"YAHOO!" Blackstar exclaimed. "my first time actually being /pampered/ at an Onsen rather than trying to peek on Tsubaki!"

"makaaaaa... CHOP!" Maka chopped Blackstar, hard, with her science text book. He lay there stunned on the ground. "Thats /not/ something to be proud of you idiot! Or to shout to the world!"

Kid sighed. "Chrona, lets go to that cafe now. Its getting too loud in here."

"WHAT?" that was Blackstar. "But we were just getting started! I haven't beaten you in Halo."

"Pull out Age of Mythology, Age of Empires ii and iii or Civilization and we're talking, and /if/ we play them, I'll kick /your/ ass." Kid replied coldly. "I beat all the mario games by the time I was 7 and they just weren't interesting anymore."

"Couldn't you just kiss it instead?" Blackstar teased, batting his lashes at Kid. "You're so sexually repressed, you need to get laid, it will make that itching symmetry bug all better."

Kid stormed out, dragging Chrona along the way. "You're a BASTARD BLACKSTAR!" he yelled, slamming the door behind him.

"Kid would never kiss your ass Blackstar. Its too asymmetrical. And ass Kissing just isn't cool." Soul leered at Blackstar. "Besides, you hit a nerve with him. But... there's something /else/ I could kiss. Just not in front of a crowd. Shows are cool and all, but I like to give private performances so much better." He leered up at Blackstar with this demonic grin, and Soul could even hear the little red demon laughing at the lustful look on his face.

"oh really..." Soul suddenly found Blackstar sitting in his lap, straddling his hips and sprayed his soda, thankfully to the side. "What kind of a private performance?"

Soul blushed, not thinking that he'd get quite this reaction. "Would you like to find out? What's with you anyway, I didn't think big old you was interested in sex, you're too busy yelling about being the Star."

Maka was beet red and staring, Tsubaki was drooling, Liz and Patty were desperately digging through their purses growling. "WHERE! WHERE IS THAT CAMERA!"

Blackstar laughed, picking up Soul and getting ready to carry him away. "You want that private performance?"

"Hell yeah."

"Why don't you save that for the onsen tonight?" asked Maka with a grin. She really didn't want to be there while her weapon made out in front of her.

"Awww."

"but the Onsen is more romantic, not to mention the hot water should help minimize the limp." Liz said with a wicked grin on her face. She knew how to dissuade /this/ situation!

"L... limp?" Blackstar stammered. His cheeks turned red. Patti picked up on what her sister was doing.

"yeah, you know, when Soul rides you like a rodeo and makes you scream loud enough for half the school to hear." Patti said happily.

Blackstar just... inched away from Soul and from Patti. "i'm gonna go home now, have fun Tsubaki!"

One by one, everyone went home, and by the time the clock hit 5. Maka, Soul and Tsubaki were the only ones left, Blackstar had gone out for awhile, scared off by Liz and Patti's limping comment. "Hey Soul, I wanna talk to Tsubaki alone, can you take care of cleaning up?"

There were dishes from their meal everywhere. "Sure." Soul motioned for Tsubaki and Maka to go into Tsubaki's room and gave his Meister a wink.

Maka lead Tsubaki into her bedroom. "Er... Tsubaki do you want to go out with me?" She asked shyly.

"WHAAAAATTT?" Tsubaki almost fainted.

Maka grimaced. "I... er... I'll take that as a no..." She turned to go, blushing hugely. "Forget I..." Long, warm arms wrapped around her from behind, a kiss on Maka's cheek caused the scythe meister to blush and lean into Tsubaki's grip.

And the demon blade whispered in her ear, "... thats a definate yes." then out loud. "You just surprised me thats all. What brought this about? You're head over heals for Soul aren't you?"

"Naw... he's got a crush on Blackstar. And a mild sexual attraction to Kid."

"I noticed. I think thats cute." Tsubaki chuckled.

"He came out to me last night Tsubaki, he thought that as his meister I wouldn't understand him and wouldn't want to be his partner anymore. Well, I don't understand, but I accept him. And I started wondering if I like girls or not." Tsubaki maneuvered them over to her bed and held Maka in her lap and the scythe meister just cried. "And then... I found out... I caught Stein and Poppa having sex. Stuff tends to run in families, and even though I look like Momma, I kept forgetting or ignoring the fact that I have poppa's genes too. He's such a CHEATER! He's got /no/ fidelity! And that makes me ANGRY, and it scares me because I don't want to have papa's sex drive!"

"Starting to question one's sexuality isn't a bad thing Maka. from that." Tsubaki sighed. "It just means you're different. Look at me, I'm /perfectly/ at home with liking girls. Its shocking when someone acts like a bigot but if they can't accept you then you can't make them. As for your father, you're not him, you have Kami's genes too."

"True." She sighed, looking up at Tsubaki all red eyed. "At least my weapon understands. Kiss me Tsubaki?"

"That I can do." Tsubaki said with a smile, pulling Maka into a kiss.

* * *

"Ne... K... Kiddo-kun." Chrona asked as they headed to the Onsen later that night. "Do you... do you want me... am I... attractive to you?"

Kid paused, _ho boy, here it comes. _Kid tried to think his words out carefully. "Chrona I do find you attractive, you have no idea, I want to say screw the Onsen and just go home and fuck you all night till we're both aching inside and out. But I'm... too much of a gentleman. It would take something /extremely/ erotic to make me deviate from that." He leaned in to kiss the Demon Sword Meister on the lips delicately, looping his arms around Chrona's waist. "Unless, of course, you /said/ that you wanted to start things off like that, but usually relationships start with two people getting close and work up /to/ sex, they don't start with sex and do everything else after."

Chrona responded to the kiss, looping his arms around Kid's neck. "I'm not sure I understand, but if you don't want to yet you don't have to, though I really wish you would." He sighed. "As for how much I know, Ragnarok makes comments to do with sex all the time, so I'm not completely naïve I have some idea of what to do. I don't know how to deal with sex, but I do want to experience it." There was this small... glow... to his eyes, very faint. But definitely interested. "And its frustrating to be refused." Chrona blushed like a tomato after admitting that.

Kid laughed. "I suppose, we can get a little steamier after we get back from the Onsen." he leaned against Chrona, holding him close. He closed his eyes, burying his face in the head of pink hair, and allowing Chrona to feel the sheer amount of lust in his soul wavelength at that moment. The pink haired meister gasped, making a cute little mewling noise. "Does that answer your question Chrona?"

"Yes." His face was tomato red. Kid felt something hard poking his leg, and he giggled a little. "So thats how it is huh?" He asked with a chuckle. "C'mon, we'd better get back and get our things to go to the Onsen."

* * *

Oh my god thats LONG! ;.; i'm sorry, two chappies and there isn't even sex yet! Lemon next chapter I /promise./ I also didn't pay attention at first when Maka said Justin became a deathscythe at the age of fourteen. I wrote him as being the same age as the other Deathscythes until I rewatched the episode where Giriko and Arachne first appear in subs and saw that and i'm like... oops.


	3. Chapter 3

Notes: Lupin and Free walk into a bar, they wake up in a forest in Oregon. "how did I get here?" they ask. "I dunno." says the sparkling vampire. "Ask the crazy yaoi fangirl standing over there, see? She's carrying that long metal pipe. She killed Bella earlier and hung her from a tree, guess that one won't be turning into a vampire."

I'm so sorry i've been slow to update guys, I've had the worst writer's block. Then I listened to the soul eater sound track. The piece "Konfrontation" basically a tribal remix of "Step Up" sort of piece gave me a bit of creative fuel.

Friday March 18th

Sickey. Sickey Sickey. I'm struggling to get the first part of the lemon done and... I'm not feeling it, I write lemons best when I'm horny. Sick and aching all over, no way I'm gonna get in the mood with this.

Saturday March 19th

Lady gaga put me in the mood to write, I'm feeling a lot better. I think it was the fanart of Byakuya and Renji in Fundoshi.

Thursday March 24th

back to work... ho hum, secksy yaoi.

Wednesday March 30th

I'm getting there! I MUST NOT LOSE MY STEAM!

Friday April 1st

FINALLY! Happy april fools day everyone!

* * *

"Mmmmph, Sorruuuuu..." Kid's ears twitched, he peered in the door of the locker room for the Onsen to find Soul pinning Blackstar to the lockers, in the middle of kissing, and groping, the teal haired Meister. "Harder... mmmmphhhh..."

"We're not interrupting are we?" Kid asked dryly. Chrona had covered his eyes, though he peeked through his fingers.

"There's always room for two more." Soul snickered. "I want to see how you're built Kiddo-kun." He said sexily.

"You I don't have a problem with, Blackstar is... /repulsive./" The blue haired meister was still rather dazed, though he perked up.

"Are you calling me UGLY?"

"You just aren't my type." Kid said coldly.

"I'm everyone's type! I'm the mighty Blackstar!"

"Thanks for killing the mood Kid." Soul grunted. "I was feeling good too, my partner actually **accepted** my sexual orientation, and said I could bring a boyfriend home."

"You don't need Maka's permission to have a sex life Soul. Just like Liz and Patti don't need my permission to date someone. Just as long as that someone doesn't make Gallows Manor asymmetrical." Kid grunted.

"Yeah, but you know Maka, she gets /jealous!/" He sighed. "Its nice to find out I'm not the only person my age at Shibusen who likes men. So... how long have you realized you were gay?"

"I don't know. I never thought about it." Kid sighed. Chrona was hiding in one of the shower stalls, only coming out wrapped in a towel. "Besides, why should I label myself one thing or the other? It limits my prospects. I have little time to myself /anyway/ so why should I limit my possibilities when it comes to finding a mate?"

"You wear your towel like a girl Chrona!" Blackstar declared. Which was true, he had it wrapped around his chest as he came out of the shower stall.

"Um..." Chrona inched into the shower stall again. "I don't know how to deal with this." he gloomed, closing the curtain.

"leave him alone Blackstar, he's shy." Kid walked over to the shower stall. "Chrona? Are you alright?"

"Y... Yes..." He hesitated. "n... no..." He blushed, looking shyly up at Kid. "I don't want them to see my body. How can I learn how to deal with the Onsen if I don't want them to see me?"

"Chrona, why are you so shy about your appearance?"

"M... Medusa-sama said I was deformed... that nobody could ever love me because of..." Soul heard Chrona say before their voices grew too quiet for him to hear.

He sighed, raising his voice. "Chrona do you really trust what she tells you? If Medusa told you to jump off a bridge would you do it?"

"no." Chrona squeaked.

"She probably told you you were ugly because she's jealous of how you look. She's /abusive/ Chrona. She told you those things because she didn't want you to be happy, she wanted you to be miserable." Soul sighed. "If you're not comfortable showing your skin I suppose we could find you a pair of swim trunks."

"There aren't any." Blackstar pointed out. "This is an /Onsen/, everyone goes naked in those. Besides Chrona, you've got a fine body from where I'm standing, what could be so horrible about it?" Blackstar licked his lips lustfully. "Besides, I'm the man who would surpass God! And you're my friend! So why would I be so horribly ungodly as to think you're deformed when you have such a /beautiful/ form yourself? I'm me after all! I accept anybody who isn't evil!"

Soul laughed at that. "Just one of the reasons why I love you Blackstar. You're crazy but in a good way! You're selfish but you like everyone." he chuckled.

"O... okay..." Chrona blushed. "I'm coming out now." He hesitated, walking shyly out of the shower stall with his towel off. He still held it in one hand, a white knuckle grip on the soft terrycloth.

Chrona's show of bravery had Kid's face glowing with pride. He held back the temptation to hug Chrona and to explain what he was, but he decided not to. Chrona was never going to learn how to "deal with" explaining his intersex body if someone always did it for him. So Kid simply took up a supportive position next to Chrona, quite pleased that he'd gotten up the courage to appear naked in the baths.

Soul had a nose bleed, as it took a few moments for him to realize that Chrona had both breasts /and/ a dick. And his /blush/ was so cute! Soul dabbed up the blood politely, after all cool people don't /pounce/ the object of their desire simply because they were turned on by something shocking like this. That was why he'd been hoping to /lure/ Kid and Chrona into sleeping with him rather than just pouncing on them. He'd been considering something like that with Blackstar, only to find out that the teal haired Meister needed no leading when it came to sex, nor did he consider such lust to be shameful. Not even with a man. Just like Blackstar wasn't it?

But Chrona and Kid were the introverted type. Kid was simply subdued and gentlemanly, but Soul, if he became a deathscythe, would have to learn to resonate both with father and son, and he couldn't quite make that emotional connection to the old man, Kid however, Kid Soul wanted to make an emotional connection to.

"I don't believe what I'm seeing." Soul's eyes raked Chrona's body over. Chrona mattered to Maka, and they shared a common bond, the Black Blood. Soul wanted to know Chrona better, and this was... much better.

"I knew it, I'm ugly. I'm going to disappear now..." Chrona blushed, moving to wrap the towel around himself.

Blackstar moved first, looping warm, tanned arms around Chrona. "You aren't ugly, you're /gorgeous./ Not as beautiful as Big Ole Me of course, but nobody's perfect Chrona!"

Chrona blushed, as Blackstar buried his nose into the base of his neck, taking a deep whiff of his skin and looping powerful arms around his waist. Chrona's mind was working in an effort to figure out how to deal with this, but Blackstar's arms around him were so good, he couldn't figure out how to form proper words at the moment.

Kid /burned/ with jealousy. Chrona blushed with embarassment, at what he realized was flattery to Blackstar. Just like being called "Symmetrical" was flattery by Kid. "I've got female parts underneath it too." Chrona pulled away, lifting his cock so that the other two could see that he had a vagina as well. "I'm not really sure what I should be. Am I a boy or a girl?"

"Just words Chrona." Soul's gaze was lazy, lusty, and appreciative. Like a cat eyeing a mouse. "Fitting into other people's categories isn't cool. You are what you are, you are Chrona."

"I... I like the sound of that." Chrona blushed.

"Its called Gay Pride Chrona." Soul said with a yawn, leaning back on the rough bench. "It might get awkward if you're in the massage parlor though. Hang on..." he got up and dug into his locker, pulling out a well worn bathrobe. "if you're uncomfortable about just using a towel, borrow my bathrobe for now, then we'll go out and buy you one at the store. Kay? I'm sure Maka can help you pick out a good one."

Chrona blushed slightly, and Kid realized that he'd probably always be second to Maka in Chrona's eyes, still, the warm smile on his face wasn't the same one that Chrona had for Kid, and Kid could feel it on Chrona's wavelength. Maka had 'rescued' him from Medusa, but Chrona didn't see the blonde meister romantically. And that cooled his jealousy somewhat. What was wrong with his mind? This need, this desire, it wasn't madness. It didn't /feel/ insane. It was just... need... not just for lust but for emotional intimacy... almost like a girl for crying out loud.

Chrona pulled the robe on around his body, then tied the belt loosely around him. "Lets get going then." Kid sighed, getting up and following a sign that said "massage." "Its been years since I've had a good massage. Back when my neurosis first set in father would arrange for me to have acupuncture and massage therepy. But when I grew up I kinda... fell out of it."

"Fell out of it?"

"other things caught my interest." Kid replied. "however, I can't deny that having a good massage creates mental and emotional balance. Perhaps it will be good for Chrona to experience it."

"G... good?"

"You need to get used to human interaction and contact, and your muscles are quite tense." Kid looped an arm around Chrona's waist tenderly. "didn't you hear my father? He was going to arrange some therepy to help you learn how to 'deal with' things as you put it. Actually, some of the things he's arranged helped me quite a bit with my neurosis. I used to not be able to go outside. When I was a young child it was actually much worse."

"Feeling a bit possessive are we? After watching Blackstar manhandle him?" Soul snickered. "Still, kinda cool the way you're handling it."

"Why would I be possessive?" Kid asked. "Chrona has to learn how to 'deal with' things on his own, if I explain why he's different to everyone, he doesn't learn how to deal with explaining it to other people. Likewise, if I act too possessive, he won't learn how to cope with people either." Kid sighed, looking over into Chrona's eyes. "Sometimes standing back and letting him learn on his own is as valuable as directly teaching him something."

"A... A... arigatou... Kiddo-kun." Chrona said shyly. "I'm quite grateful." His hand twined carefully into Kid's.

Marie and Nygus were waiting for them in the massage parlor. Nygus had covered herself in bandages up to her chin, leaving it open to smile happily at the group. "Hey there! Hope you don't mind a couple of girls doing your laying on of hands. I was thinking Marie's healing wavelength might help soothe Chrona and Kid a bit more."

"Awesome, Nygus and Marie are totally cool." Soul grinned, hopping up onto one of the massage tables and laying down on his stomach. "I just need my back done, I swear after that last practice with Maka my neck keeps cracking."

Nygus chuckled. "I'll do my best. Weapons tend to get achey spots after years on the battlefield. My left leg is always sore after a long mission."

A female attendant Blackstar didn't know was doing his massage, but he seemed quite happy with that. Chrona blushed up at Marie. "Its okay, loosen up your robe a bit so I can get at the muscles though."

Chrona nodded, unhooking the belt. Marie caught a flash of something beneath that didn't quite feel right to her. But just as quickly Chrona was sprawled on the massage table, when he looked back at Marie it was with a nervous blush.

"He's shy Marie. Took awhile to coax him out of the shower stall. I lent him my bathrobe so he wouldn't feel so exposed" Soul spoke up. "oh right there Nygus... thats the part that always tenses up." Soul said drowsily.

Marie's touch, and her healing wavelength, instantly relaxed Chrona's muscles and tired mind, and he felt a little more... hopeful. Marie slowly, carefully kneeded electricity into his muscles as well using her Izuna (1). "Wow, you get pretty tense. Don't worry, thats what massages are for." Kid was watching him, Chrona realized, intoxicating golden eyes smoldering with the lust he'd felt on Kid's wavelength earlier.

"I... I'm a bit different, and I don't like showing it..." Chrona spoke up. "thats all."

"In other words, you won't catch him flaunting himself." Soul giggled. "huh, Blackstar are you alright?"

Blackstar's eyes had drooped slowly shut on the massage table. "oooooooh yeah..." he groaned, drooling slightly. "oh that feels good." then upon noticing there was a partition and guessing the girls were on the other side (which they were) Blackstar shouted. "HEY TSUBAKI! WHY DIDNT YOU /TELL/ ME GETTING PAMPERED FELT THIS GOOD? I'D HAVE GONE MYSELF A LONG TIME AGO HOW COULD YOU KEEP SUCH A WONDERFUL THING FROM ME?"

Soul threw back his head and laughed. "should we?" he heard a voice on the other side of the partition, Liz actually.

"i'll do it!" Maka replied. Multiple books flew over the area and hit their mark with uncanny accuracy. "New technique! LONG DISTANCE MAKA CHOP!"

"Wow Maka, how'd you hit Blackstar over that wall?" Asked Liz drowsily.

"I used soul perception to target." Chrona chuckled when he heard that. "Its quite easy, like hitting the broadside of a barn, his soul is so damned big and bright its impossible to miss."

Marie looked down at the newest student. It was hard to equate Chrona's sensitive, shy nature with Medusa's wrathful personality, how could such a violent person produce such a sweet child? Chrona squirmed a bit under her touch when she hit a sensitive place, but for the most part he lay limp on the massage table, the occasional sigh of contentment coming from him, and the Deathscythe wondered once again if Chrona was a boy or a girl. He had to be a boy to be coming onto the boys side of the Onsen didn't he? Chrona had an adam's apple, but he also had curves like a girl. Maybe Chrona was a eunuch?

"Alright, its Kid's turn." Nygus reminded Marie.

"Oh of course!" Marie bent down to give Chrona a kiss on the cheek before moving on to Kid.

"Keep your movements symmetrical please." Kid mumbled. Marie chuckled. "I know exactly what to do Kid."

Chrona cracked his eyes open, sitting up and watching. Marie noticed the sudden attention of the demon swordsman and smirked inwardly. Was Chrona jealous? "You know Chrona, I can show you how to do this if you'd like."

"er... um... no thanks." Chrona blushed.

Kid cracked open an eye and chuckled before going limp under Marie's hands. "ooooh, right like that. My shoulders get stiff some times from my combat style."

Chrona mentally reminded himself to give Kid symmetrical shoulder rubs every single day. He couldn't stop staring at Kid's expression while Marie massaged him, and was torn between envy and pure unadulterated lust.

Marie couldn't figure out the dynamic going on here, glancing sidelong at Chrona's expression. Did Chrona have a crush on Kid? Still, jealousy seemed beyond the demon swordsman, she thought it was cute though.

Kid groaned, one of the reasons why he liked Marie, was because her healing wavelength always had a temporary calming effect on his neurosis, it wasn't gone, but it was far more controllable. This one massage should give him about four hours of freedom before his OCD kicked in again, more than enough time to enjoy the baths, and get Chrona that alone time he wanted. "Thanks Marie, I think I'm gonna go enjoy the water now." Kid yawned sleepily.

Marie giggled.

"I don't get it." Soul blinked. "he's all dopey. He's not even walking symmetrically."

"Its my Healing wavelength." Marie replied, as the cold air slowly seemed to bring Kid to better alertness. "It temporarily eases his OCD. But by the time he goes to bed tonight he'll be back to normal."

As he walked out, Chrona saw Kid shiver slightly, then straighten up. "Are you coming?" he asked Chrona, without looking over his shoulder.

"Uhuh!" Chrona got up and hurried after him.

Soul sat up, stretching. Blackstar the same. "Heh, time for some hot water and skin aye Blackstar?" The two of them turned to follow Chrona and Kid.

Kid sighed in relief when they made it to the bath, and Chrona quickly slipped off his robe and got in as well. Chrona leaned back in the bath. Soul and Blackstar got in with them. "Oooooooh, thats good." Soul groaned. "So... where were we..."

He was leering at Kid, trying to figure out how to make his move, he looked over at Blackstar. "soooo, Kid..."

"I know why you're looking at me."

"Yeah, because you're hot, and I'm still hot from making out with blackstar."

"heheheheheheh, you wanna have sex with Kid don't you Soul?"

"Well... I wouldn't mind a four way, the more the merrier."

Chrona blushed hugely, Kid smirked. "I promised Chrona something special later on. So I'll only go if he's okay with it." Kid's eyes glinted, and a fire lit in his belly. The lust he had suppressed so much, tried to control so he'd act like a gentleman, /flared/.

Chrona was just staring, rather dazedly, eyes half hovered between the grey that showed intense emotion and the normal black. "Chona?" soul waved a hand in front of Chrona's face.

"only if I can have Kid first." Chrona latched onto Kid. "You two do it with each other first and me and Kid first." Chrona blushed hugely from the roots of his hair down his chest. He could hear Ragnarok laughing at him in his head. **Don't you DARE come out!** Chrona told Ragnarok.

**And get in the way of /you/ getting LAID? No THANKS! If I come out I'll kill the mood!**

"I think you have your answer." Kid nipped a bit at Chrona's ear. Chrona shuddered, groaning and hauling Kid into a kiss.

"Sounds fine with me." Soul grinned. "Blackstar, you're hung like a god." soul growled, kissing the teal haired Meister soundly on the lips.

"I'm hung /better/ than a God." Blackstar smirked, pinning Soul to the side of the baths. "Kid's is way smaller than mine! I have a bigger dick than Kid does! But why wouldn't I be? I'm the biggest man alive!"

Kid barely gave the other two another thought, focusing on kissing Chrona's neck and shoulders, up one side, down the other, delighting in the pink haired meister's soft, pale skin and breathy moans. Kid scooped up Chrona and placed him so he was sitting on the edge of the baths. "rest your hands on my head like this." With his cock above the water, Kid bent down to delicately lick the tip. Chrona moaned, hands tightening in Kid's hair.

Kid all but purred, sucking the length into his mouth, and then bobbing back up again, dipping down instead to Chrona's female entry, lapping and laving at the hot, wet entry with his tongue. Normally he'd be /disgusted/ even at doing this to Chrona, but Marie's wavelength had worked like a charm, not a single bit of neurosis showed through. Kid could lose his virginity in peace and give Chrona the night of his life.

Chrona squealed in delight, hands gripping the young shinigami's hair, legs shooting out on either side of him, ramrod straight, head arched back. "goooooooooooooooddddd..." He moaned. "K... k... Kiddo-kun..."

Kid felt his cock twitch at the sound and sight.

Splash, Chrona blushed as Kid hauled him to him, squeaking slightly before the sound was swallowed in a kiss. Chrona wasn't paying attention to sight right then, his vision was swimming, the /hands/ moving over his body were far too much of a distraction. He wrapped his arms around Kid's neck, body completely pliant in his hands.

Once Chrona was supporting his own weight, Kid looped the pinkette's legs loosely around his hips. He was having a bit of a trouble getting the position he wanted. And if he wasn't careful that was going to hurt. The water helped, the heat would relieve some of the pain and support their weight, making balance easier.

Kid focused on kissing his Chrona while the other hand went around behind him, fingering his own entrance. He wasn't going to like this when Marie's treatment wore off. But it was either this or limp when they got out of the baths. One finger, Kid forced his lower body to relax. Two... not quite as hard. But then when he started scissoring, without lubricant it /stung./ Kid hissed mid kiss, and thats when one of Chrona's hands reached down to lightly stroke his erection back to hardness.

Kid pulled his hand out, carefully positioning himself at Chrona's entrance, then twisting their legs slightly so that Chrona's erection was at /his/ entrance. Chrona blinked, not quite comprehending what Kid was doing until the young shinigami simply /pulled./

Chrona squealed cutely "Oh ooooooooooooohhhh..." arms tightening around Kid's neck as he felt the sensation of being taken and taking another at once. He shivered and shuddered, not only that, but Kid had taken him in the female entrance, not the back one, breaking the hymen and causing that little rush of pain so often romanticized in romance novels and love songs. Kid smirked, he'd successfully gotten double penetration right on the first try.

Kid winced. Chrona clearly enjoyed this. But his body needed to adjust. Fortunately, his shinigami regenerative ability took over, allowing his body to adjust to fit. Chrona felt so warm in his arms, so delightfully pliable and willing and receptive, Kid felt instinct taking over, energy flowing into him and through him into Chrona and back again. Back and forth, slowly and lazily. As he started to thrust, Kid tried to place the energy flow. It wasn't soul resonance, it was /slower./ It felt /baser/ more primitive. And it was /arousing./ Kid could feel Chrona's energy flowing into him as well.

Chrona whimpered, thrusting back as he felt the energy flowing. He nuzzled closer to Kid, burying his face in his shoulder and wrapping his arms tenderly around the other. Soft, needy cries came from his throat unbid. Chrona heard Kid growling in his ear. "God... CHRONA..." Kid hissed, shoving Chrona deeper into him. Chrona squeaked. This was... downright feral, so intense that Chrona was having trouble focusing his eyes on anything. But he didn't need them, he could tell that this was Kid, holding him in his arms. He felt warm... comforted... protected...

The poor demon swordsman wasn't able to hold off for long, screaming in pleasure rather than fear for once, head arching back. Kid hissed when he felt Chrona spilling his seed inside of him, the energy being exchanged between them reached a peak, and Kid screamed, coming hard inside of Chrona. Chrona squealed, grip tightening. Kid buried his face in Chrona's shoulder, leaving a love bite where his lips sucked at the pale flesh. Then realizing it was going to drive him crazy when Marie's technique wore off, Kid moved to the other shoulder, licking and sucking on it to try to make the marks even.

"Kiddo-kun..." Chrona moaned, snuggling close to Kid, still entwined with him. The last shudders of whatever that energy exchange had been made Chrona shiver. It was... comfortable, and warm. Kid purred, groaning slightly. Kid slowly withdrew Chrona from inside him, but he remained inside of Chrona a bit longer.

Soul was discovering a similar problem of balance, but once he got used to it, he and Blackstar grappled for control, tongues dueling for dominance in a spirited competition for top. Then suddenly Blackstar's lips left Soul's. Soul felt Blackstar nipping at his ear and hissing in it. "Who's your God?" At the same time, one rough, weapon calloused hand squeezed his ass and the other used those self same callouses to pump his cock.

"BLACKSTAR!" Soul moaned. In an instant he'd lost, and found his back pinned to the wall of the bath. "Damnit, you cheated!"

"And you love it..." Soul did. Those large, tanned, rough hands provided an interesting texture on his cock.

"Damn right, next time I get to aherm... worship at your altar. If you get my drift."

"fine with me... but I want to get your cherry before you get mine!" Blackstar grinned stupidly.

Soul lifted his legs, kissing Blackstar between giggles. "Men don't technically have cherries, as it refers to a specific female body part." he rolled his eyes. "But hurry up and get it."

Blackstar purred, making little in the way of foreplay and carefully easing himself inside. Soul hissed. "Carefull!"

"I am!" Blackstar swore. "Shiiiiittt, Soul you're tight." Soul groaned. If he didn't know that it would feel better soon, he'd have said screw it. He just focused on relaxing his lower body as much as he could. Blackstar wasn't long, but he had /girth/, much more of it than Soul did. Soul felt his body adjust, but slowly.

He heard a wicked laugh from the black room. The red demon was listening in! **What the heck are you laughing at?** Soul demanded, his attention split from his chair in the room to chastise the demon and the absolutely heavenly attention Blackstar was currently lavishing on him now that the pain was fading.

_"Oh nothing." The demon grinned toothily as he lied outright, and Soul could tell he was lying too._

_"I'm not letting you spread it to Blackstar."_

_"Oh its not about anything to do with him, but something definitely to do with you. Didn't you listen to what Spirit said about some male weapons getting pregnant?"_

_"Yeah, but he also said the ones who could are typically countable on one hand."_

_"Yes, but if i'd been you I'd have done the cautious thing and gotten a medical check up to make sure. I knew about that particular rarity's existence. Most male weapons who /can/ get pregnant only discover this because they have sex with a man and then start showing the signs. Now only one in ten humans are gay, far more are bi, but society doesn't encourage open homosexuality, so odds are the numbers of male weapons who can are far higher. Furthermore, its more common in scythe type weapons than it is in other types."_

_"So the numbers are inaccurate, i'm not worried."_

_"Oh yes, I suppose thats the cool thing to do then, let tomorrow take care of itself. Don't say I didn't warn you."_

The red demon broke off contact abruptly, "hey soul you alright? You spaced out a minute."

"Yeah I'm fine." Soul lied. Was the demon warning him that he could get pregnant? Soul sure hoped not. Besides how could he know such a thing? The red ogre was a part of him, and if he didn't know if he was fertile then how could the demon?

Soul reached up to kiss Blackstar, holding their bodies together. And suddenly, he felt... /shy/. He wrapped his arms around the teal haired meister's neck and gave an experimental shove down on his erection. "Go..."

Blackstar started to move, and for some reason it set Soul's body and wavelength on fire. "S... s... soul..."

"shit... blackstar!" Soul almost came from the way Blackstar called his name. Huge, strong, calloused hands were working over his body, kneading his waist and hips and back as he thrust into Soul's body. Blackstar was searching for a specific angle, the one that would make his lover go wild... when suddenly. "AAAAACHCHHH." Soul yowled in pleasure and spots danced over his vision.

Blackstar pushed Soul back against the wall of the bath, pushing his legs back and up for better access, pounding on that one spot. Soul couldn't really focus on anything, but he could have sworn as he braced his upper body on the edge of the bath and his head rolled back from not being able to concentrate, that he could see a pair of blonde pigtails and a black ponytail sticking up over the fence dividing the boys and girls side and a knot hole in the wood and a crack in the boards which four different sets of eyes were fighting to look through. Oh great, Maka, Tsubaki, Liz and Patti were spying on them.

That was all he got to see. Soul's vision went white as he came, hard. He felt their energy signatures merge, just one moment of /perfect/ compatibility before it was gone. Soul lay there, half out of the baths, limp, but energized as Blackstar pulled out and then leaned in to kiss him.

Soul's cheeks were flushed, eyes half closed, and when Blackstar leaned in to kiss him, he threw his arms around the teal haired meister's neck and hauled him into a steamy, demanding kiss. "Okay... now we need..." he looked over at Kid and Chrona. Kid was still buried in Chrona's female entrance, and his face in the demon swordsman's hair.

Kid was so absorbed in Chrona, gently thrusting into him with small, soft movements, far gentler than before, trying to prolong the afterglow of orgasm when he felt large, calloused hands and powerful tanned arms wrap around his waist. Kid squeaked.

"Hey there..." Blackstar purred in his ear. "Didn't forget about me did you?"

Soul wrapped his arms around Chrona's waist, resting his head between his shoulders. Chrona jumped, then blushed, fingers tightening on Kid's shoulders. "I don't bite." Soul said with this loopy, lustful kinda smile.

The four of them moved in closer, and Chrona just kind of... sagged, body relaxing utterly. Sandwiched between Soul and Kid and with the shinigami comfortably inside of him. Kid groaned at the touch, as Blackstar caressed his body. "You don't... really find me repulsive do you?" Blackstar asked quietly, pressing his erection lightly at the young shinigami's entrance.

"Kinda..." Kid gasped. "its your attitude, the way you act like you're so superior to everyone else. Most of the time it makes you look like a moron..."

"Thats the way I am..." blackstar sighed, "figures, you'd find me physically sexy, and spiritually repulsive..."

"Just get it over with!" Kid hissed. "my body is on /fire/."

Blackstar laughed. "Ore-sama has a tendency to do that to people!" He grinned, pressing slowly inside. Kid blushed crimson at the intrusion. Chrona had length, but he was slender. Blackstar was about normal length, but he was /thick./

Chrona groaned, as Soul pressed inside of him and buried his face in Chrona's hair, body becoming even more flushed. With Kid in one entry and Soul in the other... it just... felt so GOOD! Not sure which way to thrust, Chrona could vaguely sense Kid's mood. The young shinigami was slowly being overcome with lust. Chrona was fine with letting him get out whatever it was he needed, sexually speaking. It was pleasant, and warm and... he sighed blissfully, sagging between Kid and Soul when the scythe /finally/ hilted himself inside.

No sooner had his body adjusted than Blackstar began to move, going /right/ for the sweet spot from the start, and dragging his member back and forth over it. "SHIT! Blackstar!" Chrona squeaked in his arms as Kid's pace sped up rapidly. He was seeing white behind his eyes and rapidly on his way to losing control. "Ch... chrona... aaaaaah..."

Chrona whimpered and panted, soft mewling sounds coming from his mouth as he arched back and forth between Kid and Soul, losing most of his self control, eyes gone grey and dark with lust. "oh my god, thats so... ooooooooooohhhh..."

Of course, this was the first time for all four of them, and with his body so sensitized, Kid came pretty quickly, though the demanding kiss from Chrona, the demon swordsman begging for his attention, helped quite a bit. Soul groaned, Chrona's voice, and the tight passage squeezing him, it was so heavenly he couldn't help himself and he screamed in pleasure as he reached climax.

Blackstar did his best to help Kid ride out his orgasm, but it didn't help that with his slim body and Blackstar's unusual girth he was so tight. The last to come, Blackstar groaned, pulling out and yawning slightly. Kid whimpered... "... I need /more!/"

"Jeez Kid, you've got the endurance of a rabbit or sompin." Blackstar yawned. "This was the first time for all of us, so how come you're still raring to go?"

Soul stretched. "yeah, I mean, I'm gonna be limping tomorrow as it is." He stretched, moving to the edge of the tub to dry off. "Besides, we're not supposed to be in these things for longer than twenty minutes, and its been twice that."

It was in short order that Chrona and Kid were left alone. "Lets go back." Chrona said quietly. "Curl up in bed and you can get whatever's wrong with you out." He chuckled, kissing Kid delicately on the lips. Chrona snuggled against him shyly. "Do you have any idea what's wrong with you?"

Eruka had hidden behind one of the rocks in frog form, and had been /drooling/ over the entire incident. Chrona? Sleeping with shinigami-sama's son? Oooooooooooooooh, juicy juicy juicy gossip! Then Eruka's face fell, she realized she couldn't say anything! Not in front of Medusa! The witch would go postal if she found out Chrona was sleeping with Kid! And postal wasn't good with the... gulp... snakes inside of her! Medusa might blow her up just for fun!

Reeeeb... the frog hopped away, suddenly feeling like an intruder. Still... it had been hot! **Oooooh, must suppress urge to gossip!**

"Really?" Kid asked.

"As long as I get to sleep at some point."

"You can sleep, just not in mister corner." Kid chuckled, quickly dressing, Chrona dressing too, and soon the two of them were off. Kid simply picked Chrona up outside the bathhouse building, called up Beelzebub, and carried his lover home.

"Hey Kid? What was wrong with you?" Chrona asked.

"Dunno... it was just... when I got going in there, I... I wanted sex. I could barely control myself. It was just... instinctive... I /needed/ as much as I could get."

"I see... well, I enjoyed it... when we did it, I could feel the force of your heart. You're very warm... and tender, and I felt so safe..."

"Safe?" Kid asked.

"Yeah, I didn't ever want it to end." Chrona said shyly.

"Neither did I."

Hours later, Shinigami-sama made it home for the first time in over a week (most of his nights spent in the deathroom), peeked in the door to check on Kid, and realized that Kid and Chrona were in the same bed, asleep, in a suggestive position and naked. He quietly shut the door, giving his son privacy. After all, he had time, Kid shouldn't be experiencing mating instincts for another few years after all... he'd leave his son to develop whatever relationships he wanted, that way the relationship would be stable by the time Kid conceived his grandchildren.


	4. Chapter 4

Notes: lol, for Azusa's class, I was playing "Survival Examination" from the Naruto sound track. Heheheheheheheh, forest of death anyone?

I had to do a helluva lot of research on survival skills for this chapter! So enjoy the fruits of my labor.

That said, if anyone who's actually gone out into the wilderness and done this stuff feels the need to weigh in, leave a review and I'll post them in the next chapter.

* * *

School began again in a few days, with workmen still swarming the castle and they would be for a week more. Kid and Chrona had several heavenly nights and days together before then, and met with Soul and Blackstar for a fourway twice more. Liz and Patti teased Kid endlessly, calling him a bunny rabbit, but it was all in good fun. And of course, he spent part of the time up in the deathroom with his father. It had been a long time since the two had had quality time together.

Chrona was a responsive, and willing lover, as eager to top as to bottom, flexible and pliant. And the feeling of a warm body next to his, locked in an intimate embrace, felt so warm and comforting.

The time off was quite relaxing, but then the night before he was to go back to School, Kid felt the strange wavelength again, coming in off the desert. And that was the night he dreamed about... the time...

_Only a few months after Kid's mother had died, it had been a cold winter. A lot of the human children had been getting sick with a really bad strain of strep throat. But being only seven years old, Kid simply chalked his not getting sick to "My sturdy shinigami constitution! Nya nya! You're getting sick and I'm not!" _

_Kid had begun acting out in response to his mother's death, but then... the compulsions had begun. And they got worse. The doctors tried to give him medication, but Kid had had a severe allergic reaction. So bad they'd had to put the young shinigami on a respirator. His boast that shinigami had stronger constitutions than humans, was apparently false. _

_For Two years, the ocd had gotten worse, Kid couldn't go out, he stayed in his dark room, he hardly spoke. It had gotten so bad, he'd actually put his own eyes out, and while Stein was able to spark his regenerative ability to save his vision, without the completed lines of Sanzu, Kid would be two more years regenerating his vision. Kid had instead used his wavelength like echolocation in place of vision. _

_Then his father had ordered a full immune panel, routine for young meisters and weapons, and the blood results had shown antibodies for Streptococcus. Stein had shouted eureka, run from the room, and come back with a heavy dose of antibiotics. _

_Kid was blind, however temporarily, hiding behind one of the torii gates that had guillotine blades, listening in the darkness to Stein and Marie speaking with Death. _

"_its called PANDAS. And before you make comments about cuddly black and white bears, not that kind. Its an auto immune disorder where the body's strep antibodies attack the brain instead of the bacteria. It causes severe obsessive compulsive disorder, sometimes tourettes but the OCD is more common." _

"_Why didn't we catch this before?" Death demanded. _

"_Shinigami-sama, one of the indicators of PANDAS is that OCD medications have no effect, Kid had an allergic reaction to OCD medication and had to be hospitalized and taken off it as a result, which means we had no chance to spot that symptom. Furthermore, some people are asymptomatic for strep, he's a shinigami, and while his immune system seems to be volatile, he would not necessarily have shown signs of the infection. This diagnosis is both good news and bad, it means we can lessen the symptoms and get them manageable with therapy with antibiotics, which he is /not/ allergic to." _

"_Can we save him... completely?" _

"_I doubt it, most Pandas is caught within a few months, Kid has had it for two years. The OCD will remain, but it will be treatable. And this time we know to watch out for a second infection. If his condition worsens after the antibiotics treatment is completed, we'll know that he's sick again and to give him another antibiotic." _

"_I... won't be the same?" Kid's hands shook. First his mother, then he got sick... it was something so /simple/ and yet the grownups had failed him, he'd missed it. _

_Stein left, and Kid ran to his father, crying. "Kid..." Death pulled his son into his arms and let him cry. "You heard Stein didn't you?" _

"_He... he said I won't ever be normal again..." _

"_What is 'Normal' Kid? You're living at Shibusen, nobody who lives here is 'normal.'" Death said with a small smile. "I don't care about normal unless you do, I /do/ care about you being functional." _

_Lord Death's body changed slightly, the transform of the big goofy black... creature... disappearing. Instead, Kid was being held in far more human arms. Brown hair, tanned skin, beautiful golden eyes, completed lines of sanzu in his hair and his mask hanging from his face. Death didn't want to take his humanoid form anymore, but for his son's sake, he was doing so now. And Kid cried... _

_With therepy, and a full round of antibiotics, Kid was able to go out and function in the world. But the OCD /never/ fully went away. Kid went from being the kind of child who would run around, get dirty and muddy and wet, even risk skinning his knee or palms or shins to doing anything to keep clean and avoid getting injured on only one side._

The memory faded, and Kid found himself in the courtyard of a Japanese castle, torches lit. In front of him was a figure, clearly a deity like his father, dressed in multicolored robes. An elegant book hung at his hip, and his pale, beautiful azure eyes shone through the bars in his mask. He wasn't a death god, but whoever he was, he was beautiful and sad.

He also wasn't there, Kid tried to see the deity's soul, only to find there wasn't one. "What... are you? Who are you?" Kid had heard of shades, minds and memories who's souls had already been reincarnated. His father had told him such things occasionally arose, when an especially powerful being was slain but had business on earth tying them there. This thing... could it be a shade? A Deity who's soul had already gone on, but who's mind and memories had been left behind?

Kid... didn't feel terrified, and he didn't feel repulsed by the random pattern of colors on the deity's cloak. In fact... he felt... familiar. Comforting. Kid took a few steps forwards. But when he reached out to touch the deity standing in front of him, his hand went through his body.

"You are certainly your father's son... may my blessings watch over you and your family multiply... long live the blood of Death." He held out two objects towards Kid, the book that he'd worn at his waist, and a small gray cube. "Find them, you will be given my blessings. Return them to the House that Death built, where they belong." And then he disappeared.

Kid sat up straight in bed in a cold sweat, Chrona sound asleep beside him. School was to start again the next day, Kid had agreed to have breakfast with his father before he went to class. It was four AM. If he hurried, Kid could get his "checking" and his other morning things done and be there /early./

**~ in the book of eibon ~ SPOILER WARNING FOR MANGA AND SALVAGE ARC!**

Poor Toc was beside himself, running back and forth inside the realm of greed. The 7 demons of sin were going crazy inside the book in response to Vera's and her sisters release of their special wavelength. "DAMN YOU VEERAA A DAMN YOU TO HELL!" Toc was struggling to keep them calm and contained. "I hate you so much! You're going to ruin all my careful work! I can't make the other six Noahs if you KEEP THIS UP!" Toc shrieked. "Squidzactly what am I supposed to do to preserve the master's work if YOU KEEP BREAKING IT!"

**~ the next day ~ END MANGA SPOILER WARNING!**

"Father?" several hours later Kid sat down to breakfast in the deathroom with Death. "er... I had a really strange dream last night."

"Dream?" Shinigami-sama, aka Lord Death, poured tea for them, and Kid took a long sip. "I think it was a Shade, can shades appear in dreams?"

"Quite often its the easiest way for them to do so. Appearing in the physical world or in daylight takes more energy than they often have the strength to... why?"

"He..." Kid shuddered, closing his eyes and focusing on recalling the deity's appearance. "he was another deity, like you but he wasn't a death god. He had a coat that was... patchworked I guess, multicolored. His mask had bars in it, and his eyes... glowing azure like the sky on a cloudless day, and so sad. As if his entire being had been crushed by grief."

Death dropped his teacup halfway to his face. "Did he say anything to you?"

"He said, he said I was my father's son, which made me think you might know him, and he offered his blessings to watch over me, he said may my family multiply, long live the blood of Death, he showed me two objects, a book and a cube of some kind, pale gray, he asked me to try to find them for him."

"I knew him, a long long time ago..." Death walked over to his son. And it was a human, flesh and blood hand, not a bouncy, rubbery white one that landed on his shoulder. Death hugged Kid tightly, and he blinked. "... that man was a very dear friend and comrade, who's life was unfairly and untimely taken from him. His murderer still walks among us. Even though his soul has crossed, his mind, and his heart, cannot move on until his murderer is brought to justice, and perhaps even then he won't be able to. It all depends."

Kid blinked. "What about the objects he told me to find?"

"The book there are at least two copies of, a third that has possibly been destroyed, each copy has the same effect. The second, I've been looking for a long time. And I haven't been able to find any trace of it still being around. If the enemy side gets either, that man you saw will live in agony between life and death, and we will all die."

Kid gulped, sipping his tea a bit.

"Eat a good breakfast son, I'm sorry that the mood had to change so quickly... has the construction around the school bothered you much?"

"When I see the asymmetry of the hallways, it helps to think about the symmetrical outer ediface." Kid replied.

"Hmmm..." Death smiled as he opened a small wooden box, presenting its contents to Kid. "Ordered this a few months ago, it finally came in."

It was a small disk of Jade, smooth and polished to a high sheen, perfectly circular. The number 8 had been carved into it. "Its a worry stone, when your ocd bothers you around school, simply focus on the stone."

"SUBARASHIIIII!" Kid pounced, hearts in his eyes snatching the tiny stone and hugging his father before sticking it in his pocket. "Thank you."

The meal was more pleasant after that. Death watched him go when the warning bell rang. "So Eibon is wishing him blessings hmm...? It looks like the Brew has chosen its master then."

Chrona was waiting for Kid at lunch, they, Liz, Patti, Maka, Soul, Blackstar and Tsubaki had agreed to meet for lunch on the balcony rather than the lunch room, since the day was clear, and the construction meant that the lunchroom was even more crowded than usual.

"So..." Soul smirked, leaning on Blackstar. He was glancing sidelong at Maka, who was nestled blissfully in Tsubaki's arms. "you enjoying yourself?"

Kid chuckled. "She looks it..."

"shhhhhhh..." Maka shushed them. "sooooo comfy."

Patti laughed. Chrona climbed into Kid's lap the instant he sat down, straddling his legs and resting his head on Kid's chest. "hiii..."

"hello..." Kid blushed, smiling as he wrapped his arms around Chrona's waist. "You look comfortable."

Chrona chuckled. "I am..."

Maka rolled her eyes, a huge grin on her face. "Looks like you two get along fine."

"So..." Blackstar frowned. "Survival skills class with Azusa."

"Yeah..." Maka sighed. "Thats going to be interesting."

"Azusa has a reputation for being no nonsense." Liz chimed in. "She's an idol to us gun types, but I asked Professor Stein and Spirit-san what she's like. Stein got all gloomy, something about her thwarting his hopes of dissection and Spirit was downright scared of her. They call her the Chairwoman!"

"Its gonna be EPIC!" cried Patti. "She told us to meet in the park in town! We'd better hurry and eat to make it in time!"

"I wonder if we'll get to eat weird stuff like Bear Grylls." Soul wondered.

"Naw way, we'll probably be making stuff out of junk." Patti said happily.

"I'd rather be Les Stroud than Bear Grylls." Maka snickered. "His accent makes him seem pretentious, and a multitool is more sensible than the big chopper Bear Grylls uses."

"Speaking of TV, that new series is coming on sci fi." Patti chirped.

"So?"

"I hear they used a real werewolf for this one!" Patti said happily. "A girl! They're adapting the Kitty books!"

Patti had listened to the audio book version of a series about a girl werewolf named Kitty, who was also a radio host and a diplomat for the supernatural world. She'd loved it.

"You just like that because its about a werewolf named Kitty." Liz pointed out.

"omigod yes! Its so awesome! Its the perfect name for a werewolf! Kitty!" Patti giggled.

Kid just kinda, tuned his weapons out while he ate lunch. Besides that... he was being seriously tempted to grope Chrona. _That damned instinct again! Is this even /normal?/ I mean... humans don't get like this! _

Still... Kid reached around and pinched Chrona's butt, causing the pinkette to squeak in surprise. Kid nuzzled Chrona gently.

He didn't realize that one of the advantages of having a magic mirror, was that Death could keep an eye on his son anywhere. His son's sudden shift in behavior towards Chrona worried him. It wasn't their relationship, Shinigami-sama never thought he'd see the day when /his/ Kid would be actively pursuing one of those. It was the /behavior/ going about that relationship that bothered him. Still, how to broach the topic with his often oversensitive son?

They gathered in the park, Maka, Soul, Chrona (Ragnarok never came out during classes), Blackstar, Tsubaki, Kid, Liz, Patti, Ox, Havar, Kim, Jaqueline, Kilik, Fire and Thunder, along with five other weapon meister pairs, found Azusa sitting by an unlit fire pit. It was quite an interesting tableu she'd put together, gathering logs and sticks and other material from the forested area of the park. Rather than a fancy package of gear, she had a single school day pack, made of leather, full of items a knife and a multitool at her belt, and a large stack of the same three books, bound together with some kind of heavy cord.

"Welcome and take your seats, this fire ring will be our classroom for my beginner survival course." Azusa said with a small smile, she took out a piece of steel wool, fluffed it up, along with a battery. She struck the end of the battery against the steel wool, rubbing it back and forth. The wool began to glow, until it caught fire, then she tossed the bit onto the firepit with a flourish. The campfire flared up, crackling to life. "If you can recite for me tomorrow the name for that fire making technique, and how to safely execute it on a long journey, I'll give you a firesteel and striker to keep." Azusa told them.

"Sit." She said sternly, leaning on a walking stick.

"I will tolerate no shenanigans in my classes, and every session we have around this fire, I will give you a question to answer, and you must answer it the next lesson within 2 minutes. No assignment I give you here, will be written. In the wilderness, you will have no notes, when disaster strikes, there will be no surprise quiz. You react, and either you survive, or you die.

"There's a story told to each deathscythe and deathscythe meister after they've held their rank for one year, a story of our Lord, Lord Death, and the Great Wizard Eibon, in this story, Eibon tries to find immortality, and Death forbids him to research the methods to do so, telling him. 'The reason why life is precious is because it can be lost. The fact that one day all things pass, is what makes the time we have among the living precious.'

"You are not going to know, when a disaster will hit you. You won't be able to know when you are going to be injured, or sick, or when an emergency will strike. Or when the environment will turn a routine mission into a life or death struggle, when the enemy will become the least of your problems, and nature's wrath is nipping at your heals."

Azusa stood, and began to hand out the bundled stacks of three books. "Anybody able to identify this substance I used to bind it?"

"Field issue 550 power cord." That response actually came from Blackstar. "I saw Sid-sensei use it on a camping trip to bind gear after his pack broke."

"Good, very very good."

Maka was listening, hanging onto every word. "I'm giving you three items, three books. One of these, is a catalog for knives. Sog is a manufacturer that Shibusen has used for field gear for decades. And there are adult Meisters and Weapons who still have the first generation of sog knives that they were issued for their field gear. You have a one hundred dollar budget from the sog catalog. Anything more expensive, and you have to pay the remainder. I will only give you one hint as to this. Expensive isn't always better, and we're going to be imposing a weight limit on each outing, the smaller and lighter, the better.

"I have two books that are required, and you will not be allowed to carry either in the field. Too much weight." She smirks. "The complete walker iv and the backyard homesteader. Ignore the parts of the homesteader that have to do with growing food. You won't be able to grow food in a survival situation. Focus instead, on the parts that have to do with foraging, preserving food, and butchering animals. Throughout the course, you would do wise to read field guides on edible plants, as well as any number of information on different continents flora and fauna and climates.

"That said..." she turned to Blackstar. "Recite for me Law of the Assasin number two!"

"Trans positional thinking, know your target." Blackstar replied.

"Knowledge, is your best weapon in any survival situation. This... is still the best survival tool ever invented." Azusa tapped the side of her head. "If you have this, you can do /anything/ within your natural physical capabilities."

"Weapons and Meisters have an advantage in these kinds of situations, each other. A weapon meister pair can therefore be each others survival tools. A bladed weapon, or a gun, can help to get you the sorts of things you need to survive. Shelter, fire and food can easily be gotten if you help each other.

"for my class, we will be having sessions by the fire with basic skills, and then every two weeks we'll be going out on a survival outing, two different environments, each with two groups in it. That means if you're in trouble, there's an /off chance/ of finding the other group and helping each other." Azusa grinned. "or... it could mean competition for available resources in the area."

"I will not try to influence your decisions in the field in one direction or the other, there /are/ wrong decisions to make, and there are right ones. I will NOT tell you if a decision you are making in gear or strategy or technique or tactics are right, or wrong. If you are making a mistake, I will not tell you." Her eyes were specifically on Tsubaki when she said that. Stein had said that Tsubaki tended to be trusting of her teachers, and she wanted Tsubaki to understand that for the purposes of tactics and decision making in this class, she could /not/ count on her teachers.

"Each group will have a guide, a deathscythe or deathscythe meister who is familiar with the area. They are sources of information, and if you are injured they will step in.

"you have a chance, in my classes, to earn additional gear. On outings however, you will have a weight limit. This weight limit will be reduced /every/ outing, until at the end of the year, you may /only/ have what you carry in your pockets and each other. The environment will become more challenging as the weight limit is lowered."

"Because of this, while you may be tempted to buy the most expensive gear you can find, you will find that the weight limit will prevent you from using all of it. I urge you to think with your wits, your intelligence, and your skills, /not/ your wallets."

"We'll begin with survival basics. These are as essential in my class, as the laws of the assassin are to Blackstar /ever/ being a successful Meister." That was said acidly.

"The first thing you need to do in any survival situation, is think. THINK. A sound soul dwells within a sound mind, and a sound body. If you lose that sound mind, you cannot maintain a sound body and your resolve to survive will /crumble./

"Take stock of your situation, take inventory of your tools and supplies. Think like mac guyver, with an eye for being able to make double or even triple use of anything and everything you have. Even your clothing. I, for example, know exactly how to boil roots in a canvas field hat." Azusa smirked as several people made a face at that. An assessment of your surroundings and inventory is key. If you have the basics covered, and no needs are pressing, then do nothing. Moving expends useless energy. Do not move quickly unless your life is at stake, but slowly, and deliberately.

"Fire, and shelter, are in most environments your first priority. While you may not need warmth as much in the tropical climes, the smoke from the fire keeps away insects that could carry diseases, shelter can keep rain and bugs away as well. Mosquito netting is an essential tool if you are going into any tropical wet environment. I will require you to keep two methods of starting a fire on you at /all/ times when you are out in the field. The environment, can kill you far faster than starvation. Food, no matter how maddening its lack may be, should be your /last/ concern. Fire is more than light, cooking, signaling, its a morale booster, its heat, its protection from animals, and its protection from mosquitos and biting flies that could get you /very/ /very/ ill. Malaria kills an estimated 781,000 people /each year./

"Water, four days without it and you will die. There are numerous ways to collect and purify water with just /junk./ Just because you don't have a bucket, doesn't mean you can't purify drinking water. Many areas of the continental united states, have infected or contaminated drinking water. If you don't want to risk giardia or crypto sporidium among other illnesses, you should be familiar with varying ways to purify water. Boiling is obviously the best way.

"For an emergency, a mirror and a compass are actually very good, light weight tools, a whistle, a watch.

"I will be arranging for Shibusen affiliated guides to teach you edible plant life. Many insects are edible, even snakes, birds, frogs, all sorts of things. While a normal person should hesitate before killing an animal, in a survival situation, anything is game. Your movements, when you work in such a situation, should be slow, careful, and deliberate. Take anything useful you see on your path."

"your basics are always, in order, fire, shelter, signaling, food and water, and if you are injured, first aid."

"A few words about illness. You will be given vaccinations if you go /anywhere/ where malaria can get you, you'll be vaccinated for any number of possible foreign diseases. I'm going to expect you also to research one insect borne and one water borne disease, which you'll be reciting for the class. You will not be allowed to consult notes for this. You /have/ to know the signs of some of these illnesses. When you recite your chosen diseases, you will be asked to remember the statistics, how many people get it, how many die from it, and how can you catch it or prevent yourself from catching it."

Kid shuddered, that reminded him of something.

"For now, thats all. You may take the rest of the class to look over the catalogs and books I gave you."

Kid stood, walking over to Azusa. "Azusa-san, a word in private?"

"Of course."

Kid followed Azusa to the edge of the group. "Is there any reccomendation for antibiotics that could be carried in the field? I may need to carry some."

"Any particular reason?"

"er... my neurosis, it started when strep antibodies attacked my brain. If I get strep out there, my neurosis will flare /beyond/ what is tolerable for survival."

"If you can show for me that you can handle administering such doses yourself, and that you know responsible antibiotics use. /and/ that you can do so without writing anything down, then I will allow you to carry them. I can quiz you in three days in my office after school."

"I'll be there." Kid nodded.

Chrona was all but hugging the two books he'd been given. Kid realized that Chrona would have very little in the way of personal belongings. The survival kit that they put together in their class with Azusa would likely be one of the first personal belongings that Chrona got for his very own.

When school let out, Kid went home to the manor to look over the books from his new classes. But he paused at Chrona's room, looking into it and realizing aghast that it was bare. The room was all Kid, and no Chrona. He'd been right, Chrona likely never had any personal belongings.

Chrona climbed up onto the couch next to him in the living room as they looked through the catalog for sog knives. "So... I'll take care of paying for it... I want to get you something nice."

"I'm not sure which one to use... I mean, how much of a difference does it make?"

"Well, I suppose we could get several light ones and try them over the course of the class." Kid said with a chuckle.

Chrona read a few of the descriptions. "The flash two looks fast, but these two look pretty, and the micron and access card models look pretty good. (1) And look, they even come in all black." (2)

By the time Liz and Patti came in with tea and an afterschool snack (ginger snaps), Kid and Chrona had picked out their knives for their survival course. Chrona picked a pink handled sog flash ii knife with black tini, and the plain versions of the sog access card and micron models. All of which would be far under the weight allowance for the course.

In fact, when Kid did the math, he realized he could carry all of them in the heavy black cloak he used for traveling. He picked the black versions of the sog Micron, the black flash model, and the black access card, all but the access card had a tanto style blade. (3)

"so um... Chrona I noticed you didn't have anything of your own." Kid commented casually. "I was thinking I'd take you shopping, get you some new clothes, maybe some personal effects or decorations. You could make that room your own."

Chrona blushed hugely, eyes brightening. "I... wouldn't mind some books. I never had any of my own before."

"I'll leave you two to go alone." Liz smirked.

"bu... bu... shopping!" Patti whined. Liz pinched her and whispered something in her ear.

Kid blushed, for Patti squealed in response and said. "okay!" then. "Soooooo..." Patti pulled out a camera. "Can I take date pictures?"

"no." Kid growled, getting up to get ready to go out. Chrona followed. "We'll take Beelzebub so they can't catch up."

"okay." Chrona said quietly. He got on the hoverboard behind Kid, hanging on tightly to his waist. Kid go the sort of feeling someone might with their girlfriend riding on their motorcycle's bitch seat.

Chrona picked out 3 new outfits for every day, one for formal occasions, and they stopped by a craft shop on the way. The fabric and yarn store also sold sweaters and other knitted items the shop owner made. Kid was looking at the displays while Chrona checked out the cold weather gear.

Three beautifully handsome cloaks were draped over a mannequin. Two of them had price tags. The third did not. The one in the center of the trio was black. The one on the right multicolored in stripes of brilliant and shimmering color. The one on the left, the one without the price tag, was red, with white eye shaped markings on it that rather reminded Kid of the Kisshin's sign.

Kid turned to inspect the red cloak, lifting a corner of it. "/That/ is display only, I won't sell another." An elderly woman, the shops proprietor, approached him, looking Kid over. "They say that pattern is cursed, anyone who wears it falls to the madness and dies, either by falling from the human path and being slain by the Meisters or commiting suicide. The last one was fourty years ago. Its a replica of a cloak that Asura once wore, oooooh, over eight hundred years ago. I'd love to find out if the one I've displayed here for so long was accurate, but I'll likely never know."

"I can see why such a thing wouldn't be sold in Death City." Kid frowned. "A replica you said?"

"yes, the other two are replicas of cloaks Lord Death and Eibon once wore. The three cloaks are a set, and have given this store its name." The woman had her hair up in a bun, two knitting needles in it. "My name is Athena, I taught the History of Shibusen up at the school for many years, though it was mostly three star and four star meisters and weapons that I taught, or students in their last year of school there. Then I retired and opened a stitch shop here in town. Meisters and weapons under the age of eighteen get a ten percent discount, so I get a lot of business."

"I see..."

"the story goes that magic cloaks that looked like these were a gift to Death and Asura from Eibon, back before the Demon god became the feared Kisshin he is today. These patterns were knitted for hundreds of years afterwards. But they fell out of favor when knitting did."

Kid was filing the information away. His father had been on personal terms with Eibon? What for?

"A long time ago, back when they were children, Eibon, Death and Asura were the closest of friends, it was only in later history that they grew apart from each other young one. The black one is the Shroud of Death, a special cloak that, while cloth, acted as the toughest of armor, able to keep its wearer warm or comfortably cool no matter what the extremes of weather. The Cloak of Vigilance, the one that is cursed, was given to Asura, and its said that from this coat came the three eyed sign commonly seen in structures, artworks, or other visual objects associated with the Kisshin. It gave him the ability to see in all directions. Lastly for himself, Eibon made the coat of many colors. It brought joy and happiness to any distressed soul who wore it. Eibon valued laughter, warmth and camaraderie above all things. Many of his early magic tools are meant solely for enjoyment or to bring comfort." (4)

"Joy to the distressed?"

"Why yes... I believe it was JRR Tolkein who once said 'if more valued food and cheer over hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world.' While the Hobbit hadn't been written while Eibon was alive, it was most certainly a saying he'd have agreed with, but that was his downfall. All the people Eibon loved, except for Death, grew old and died around him. He fell into despair, wanting to figure out how to make someone immortal. That was how the darkness took him. It was not the fear of death that tempted Eibon, but the fear of seeing other people die. Still... while the Witches crave his research and the Kisshins fear it, those who study Shibusen's history and learn the story of Eibon realize that he was as much a philosopher as he was an inventor, and known far and wide for good humor and good spirits."

"How'd he die?"

"Arachne killed him... Lord Death pursued Arachne ever after, determined to avenge his comrade's death."

Most of this was starting to make sense now to Kid. Arachne killed Eibon, probably to take his research for her own evil purposes. Unable to slay her, Death bided his time, searching for Justice that probably would never come and collecting the magic tools wherever he found them to protect Eibon's research, that was assuming that was why he wanted them.

"Kiddo-kun!" Chrona had picked out three thick, warm sweaters, a hat, a pair of mittens, a pair of gloves, a scarf, 2 pair wool socks, and a kimono style sweater jacket that reached halfway down his calves. "I'm ready to check out."

Kid hmmed, "I think I'll buy something too." He plucked the cloak of death, and the cloak of many colors from their racks.

They were expensive. The both of them had been made by blending silk, alpaca, and cashmere together. But Kid could afford the entire clothing bill, after all, he was Death's son.

The Athena watched Kid leave, the lines of Sanzu had long since faded from visibility in her hair when it turned white with age. "Tsk tsk, Lord Death, don't you think your son deserves to know the truth about his bloodline? My father would have been very disappointed you kept his many times grand nephew in the dark. So you don't have to tell him what my father's Magic tools were for. The least you could do is tell your son the truth. Or bring my many times over nephew by to visit me once in awhile."

* * *

1. The sog flash knives have a switch that switches them open. They and the SOGzilla models also have colored handles that would make them easy to spot if dropped or lost.

2. Several sog knives, axes and tools are finished with Titanium Nitride. From the sog knives website _**TiNi**__ is short for Titanium Nitride. It is the best coating that can be applied to steel. It is commonly used for black finishes and to increase durability. This finish is known to be both extremely scratch and peel resistant. TiNi is applied to steel through a unique process of plasma deposition performed in a complete air-sealed vacuum. _The result is an all black knife that would fit Kid quite well as a survival tool.

3. Length and weight allowances for the aforementioned blades. **SOG access card** Overall Length 6.2" Weight 1.8 oz **Flash II Tanto- Straight edge Black TiNi** Blade Length 3.5" x .125" Overall Length 8" **Sog Micron (normal and tanto)** Overall Length 3.44" Weight .5 oz. **Sog Micron 2.0 (normal and tanto)** Overall Length 5" Weight 1.4 oz.

4. In the manga version of the Arachnephobia arc, Arachne's soldiers use "Magic Tool Enjoyment" to take advantage of Fire and Thunder's childish age and distract them from their Meister's orders.


	5. Chapter 5

Notes: oh my god its been forever. ah well... FUNZES! Eibon is acting like a bratty little kid, there's a mysterious dragon witch guarding an ancient shrine, oh yeah, and Kid 's mom.

* * *

"Back from shopping?" Shinigami-sama had come home early to be with Kid. He wanted to observe how his son interacted with Chrona.

"yes... I wanted Chrona to have some clothes of his own. Besides /that./" Kid set his own purchases down, the two slim gift boxes and a couple of lighter items from the sporting shop. "I got a couple of items of my own. Do you know if Azusa is planning anywhere cold?"

"Yes, she always does somewhere in the arctic latitudes or with winter terrain." Lord Death replied. "She's fond of Alaska, Labrador, Hokkaido isn't arctic but she likes it because its her home country /and/ cold. She'll use Tunguska sometimes."

Kid opened the box on top. He pulled the "Cloak of Many Colors" replica he'd bought from the stitch shop from its box, wrapping the ankle length kimono style cloak around his shoulders. Death blinked. "Where... did you find that?" he asked his son, arching a brow.

"I bought it at the three cloaks, Athena told me the story. Wouldn't let me touch the cloak of eyes."

"QUITE RIGHT." Lord Death said sharply. "I don't mind you wearing Eibon's old designs, but if I find that pattern of cloak in your possession you get a reaper chop and /it/ gets burned."

"You would burn one of my things?" Kid arched a brow.

"I have every belief that in the hands of anyone but Athena, that knitting pattern is cursed." Shinigami replied. "I will not allow my son to fall victim to it." He paused, pouring tea for the two of them, and for Chrona, who was listening while he opened up "The complete walker iv" and began to read.

"So... you know her well?"

"Yes, she was teaching the History of Shibusen until Justin took over." Death smirked. "She's your many times great grandmother Kiddo... your mother's many times ancestress. You just couldn't see the lines of sanzu in her hair because her hair turned white with age."

"WHAT?" Kid shrieked, spraying tea across the table with his head snapping around.

"yes, she said to consider her your auntie, but if you want to get technical she's your many times great grand mother. She's captured Shibusen's entire history in her knitting." Lord Death smiled. "She also walked your mother down the aisle when we got married." He got up, hugging Kid. "You can go there whenever you'd like if you want."

Kid blinked. His father never hugged him. He hadn't hugged his father since he was... since he got sick. Chrona looked the other way. But Kid was oddly pleased by the show of fatherly affection. He turned around, returning the hug.

It was quite sudden, a swelling of emotion. It wasn't lust, it wasn't the urge to commit unspeakable incest, thank god. It wasn't that kind of pleasure after all this was his father. It was a feeling of being warm and comforted. It was an instinct. It was as if his shinigami instincts had suddenly taken on a mind of their own, and were intensifying around family and those he held strong emotions for.

And suddenly Kid became fearful, of what was in his own head, and of the possibility that his father wouldn't like him taking turns sleeping with three different male classmates. He pulled away. "er... you haven't done that since I was small."

Chrona was glancing at them sidelong. "Wish my mom had been like that."

"i'm going to /shoot/ Medusa when I see her." Kid replied coldly.

"you'll have to shoot around me trying to stab her." Chrona growled, eyes turning from black to dull silver.

"Chrona... I am not going to allow you to kill your own mother. Leave that to the rest of us okay?" Kid said firmly.

"But... she's my..."

"You aren't responsible for Medusa's actions." Kid said firmly. "Father tell him."

"Chrona, I will not allow you to face Medusa on your own, its not a burden you should shoulder. If you were in a group, I might think differently but..." Death said quietly. "Kid is right."

Death frowned, "Kid, a word alone?"

Kid stood, following his father into the next room. "So... I hear you're curious about Eibon..."

"You're /finally/ going to answer my questions on that?"

"Not immediately, I will, however, set it up so you can find out on your own." Death sighed. "Shibusen has a hidden history, one that had to be hidden or people would start /dying/, hell, Kid there are people who, if they knew the whole story, would make you one of those people who would start dying. I don't want to risk my only son. I'm willing to risk my own life, but /not/ that of my boy."

Kid gulped. Death had only mentioned that his mother's identity should be secret once before, after she'd died. He hadn't understood. He really hadn't.

What about Eibon's research was so important that people would kill for it? Why would /he/ end up being one of the people who got killed over it?

"What do I have to do?"

Death sighed. "Tonight, after everyone else is asleep, a witch dressed in white, with dragon markings on her clothing, will come to the manor to collect you. Go quietly, and only with the light of the moon, stick to the back streets when you leave the city and keep quiet. She will take you to the Shrine of the Watchtowers, and instruct you from there."

"Shrine?"

"And I /warn/ you not to mention Excalibur in front of the weapons who live in that shrine. They HATE him, one word, and they may deny you what I have negotiated ahead of time for them to show you." Death got this grimace on his face, the signature Excalibur grimace.

Kid grimaced. Chrona head tilted across the room. Liz and Patti stared at both Death and Kid's grimaces at the mention of the infamous Holy Sword. "May I ask why?"

"He's their older brother, and they /hate/ him."

"I'd hate being the younger sibling of /that/ weapon too." Kid stated, still the grimace expressions. "So what did you have to negotiate with them."

Death rolled his eyes, chuckling slightly. "They wanted Excalibur locked up for a month, in a straight jacket that would bind his spatial rending ability."

"HA!" Kid laughed. "I shouldn't laugh, but it serves him right for the chaos that ensues WHEREVER he waves his annoying little cane."

"Well Kid, I suggest you not have anymore caffine today." Death picked up the tea tray. "You'll need to be able to sleep." He smirked that last.

Kid puzzled over what his father had said, be able to sleep?

That night, Kid lay awake in bed, fully dressed, staring at the ceiling. Chrona in his room as well. There was a knock on the door, very soft. Kid stood, going to the door.

Standing there was a short witch, dressed in white robes with sapphire dragons on them. She couldn't have been more than thirteen or fourteen. "Please come with me."

Liz, Patti and Chrona were standing with her.

The young witch lead them out of the manor, through several back streets. "Until we leave the city, stay silent, use no artificial forms of light, use nothing that could make a sound including Beelzebub."

Lord Death watched them go from his mirror. "Stella my lovely, please ease your son's mind."

They moved quietly in the dark. The white witch looking left, and looking right, quite vigilant beneath the hood. A mouse's squeaking could be heard in the dark. The woman whirled, flicking her hand. "Hypnos..." The spell invoked the greek god of sleep, and suddenly there was a cute ickle mousey curled up in a little ball of fluff on one of the trash cans. "i am not taking any chances, if it is a normal mouse, then it will simply get a much better night's sleep than normal."

They reached the edge of the city, and the witch picked up her pace. "you may speak now. I am Morrigan le Fay, one of four Caretakers of the Watchtowers."

"Wasn't that the name of..."

"Yes, it is the name of the Celtic Goddess of Death. We caretakers always choose the name of a mythological death god as our title. It is necessary."

"How is this going to help me learn about Eibon?"

"The watchtowers are the only intermediary by which you can speak with his Shade. They are able to resonate with the Earth itself, but because the Earth itself is their Meister, they have special rules. One of which is that they cannot return to human form. But in return, the act as an intermediary through which someone may speak with their ancestors in the Land of the Dead. While Souls are constantly cycling through reincarnation, even if they are eaten by a weapon as a kisshin's egg or an innocent by a kisshin, they are wiped clean of memory and power and returned to the reincarnation cycle. Their memories merge with the land, becoming part of the earth's magnetic field. By resonating with the earth, the watchtowers can sort through those billions of memories, and find the Shades, typically one's ancestors, but occasionally someone that is family by virtue of spirit can be found as well."

"By spirit?"

"Souls do not recognize genetics. They recognize other souls. Your soul, for example, does not know that Liz and Patti are not blood related to you, so it is possible for them to register to the technique as being family, even though they are not genetically of any relation. If your soul considers them your sisters, then genetics will not matter. Your father is still very emotionally attached to Eibon. Your soul should recognize him as an ancestor, even if you are not of genetic relation." Morrigan replied.

"So I should be able to find him?"

"Perhaps, strange things happen when you walk the astral plane in dreams. One's soul and subconscious mind thinks in ways that the mind does not. Madness, for example, does not attack the soul or the mind directly, it attacks the bonds between them. When the bond between body, mind and soul is unbalenced, the result is someone who falls to the madness. This is the reason why Shibusen says 'A sound soul dwells in a sound mind and a sound body.' Because if one doesn't follow this maxim, then they are vulnerable to the Kisshin's path."

They were walking through the desert. Chrona was staring at the sky. "A penny for your thoughts halfling?" Morrigan queried.

"My ancestors, they aren't all like my mother are they?"

"What clan is your blood?"

"Clan Gorgon." Kid blinked at the words they were using. Then he remembered, witches organized themselves into clans. And a halfling was someone who was born from magical blood and didn't have any magic.

Morrigan frowned. "Never has a Witch's clan had a more schizophrenic history, but they were not all as your mother or Arachne. I knew your grandparents and great grandparents. The Gorgons were good witches for awhile, but Medusa destroyed that goodness and so did Arachne. What they once were, they are no longer. I am sorry for your loss. Though perhaps, with you, the clan can be returned to its former peaceful state. You are its heir. Regardless of your lack of magic, there is always the offchance that a female child of yours would be born a witch."

Chrona blushed, looking away from the Morrigan. "You... knew my grandparents?" he didn't want to think about anything to do with having children. Chrona wanted to be with Kid. Men couldn't have children.

"Yes, upright people, before the Dark Times."

Morrigan entered a cave, some miles out of town, leading them inside. The inside of the cave had tribal paintings on it. No water, no carvings, no ostentation, no fairies. Aside from the ancient paleolithic drawings on the walls, it was kept as it was.

In the center of the main chamber was a raised dias, and by it four altars covered in wool rugs. Each rug had one of the four chinese animals on it. Seiryuu the dragon, Suzaku the phoenix, Byakko the tiger, and Genbu the turtle. On the raised dias were four swords. "We are the watchtowers. We stand sentinal over the memories of man. Commune with us, and you may dance with the ancestors in your dreams." The top half of the blade at Seiryuu's altar changed, becoming the head and shoulders of a beautiful, almost elvish looking young woman with long black hair and pale white skin. "My name is Vera Joyeuse, Sword of the Heavenly Waters."

The other three weapons also changed their torsos back to human. "I am Durandal, the sturdy." A muscled, tanned woman sitting at Genbu's place introduced herself. "I am Curtana the Joyous Winds." A diminutive, darkly complected woman spoke in an exotic accent from Byakko's place at the altar. "and I am Kusanagi, the sword that cuts flames." A red headed, green eye'd woman beamed cheerfully from Suzaku's place.

"And we are the watchtowers!" They chorused cheerfully. Morrigan bowed, and left the room to stand guard outside the cave.

"So, lets get this started." Joyeuse's hands appeared, which she rubbed together, all business like. "Each of you lie down at one of the altars. We'll use our special technique to make you fall asleep." A chest at the far end of the cavern opened up. "And begin." items started floating out, hand made quilts and pillows, an incense censor which floated over to Kusanagi. Kusanagi blew into the censor, and incense smoke began to float up over it.

The rug was surprisingly squishy, and when Kid had settled himself at Joyeuse's feet and lay down, he looked around. Patti had taken the mat near Kusanagi, Liz near Durandal, and Chrona near Curtana.

Then the strange energy began to flow over the shrine. Kid felt a tingling in his forehead, and a sad, strange song. (1) Then he was falling asleep, curled up on the mat in a ball under the handmade dragon quilt that the Watchtowers floated to him.

Then he was in the same lit courtyard from his dream the night before. Only this time, instead of a single figure, it was /full/ of shinigami and witches. The courtyard was done up for the Japanese festival of Oban, and Kid was wearing a festival kimono version of his normal outfit, complete with Geta. Kid's body felt lighter. **Of course, its a dream. There's no way I wouldn't be lighter.**

There were drums playing, a bonfire burning, festival food being eaten, sake being drunk, and the traditional festival dances being done and an incredible drumbeat. To the point where he felt at once excited and overwhelmed.

"KIDDO!" A woman with long, elegant black hair, and completed lines of Sanzu in it, ran over to Kid and threw her arms around him.

It took Kid no more than five seconds to realize who had greeted him. "O... oka-chaaan." Kid turned in his mother's grip, throwing his arms around her and sobbing.

"oh my darling... oh my you grew so much." Stella cried, stroking Kid's hair.

"Mum... I... I missed you so much... and I wonder... sometimes are you happy with how I turned out?"

"Of course I am, why wouldn't I be?"

"b... because I got sick... and all these thoughts go through my head, and I can't stop it and the only way I can make them go away is by making something symmetrical a... and..."

"Kid..." Stella sighed. "I'm your mother. The only thing I'd be is worried, and if your father is taking care of you, then I won't. Have they given you medicine?"

"Yeah but I'm allergic to it." Kid sniffed. "The last time I took it I was in the hospital... I couldn't breathe..." he couldn't stop /crying./ Kid had forgotten all about finding out what he wanted for now, sobbing into his mother's kimono as he released /years/ of pent up grief, self loathing, and shame. Sure, Kid was an intensely proud individual. But the dark side of that was him feeling ashamed of his OCD and wondering what other people thought.

"oh my dearest..." Stella sighed, brushing some of her hair out of her eyes. "Just let it out... c'mon... its not healthy keeping all that bottled up."

Kid cried, trying to get as much of what was going on off his chest as possible. Then he was startled out of his reverie by a loud. BOOOOOOOOOOOM! Clacka boom boom BADA BOOM DADA BOOM! "YEEEE HAWWW!" A bloom of fire rose from the dancing circle.

Kid snapped around, those playing taiko drums had struck up a lively beat. And an elderly witch in the festival circle had begun a /wild/ dance, breathing fire and making fantastic leaps and whirls for her physical age.

Stella growled. "MOTHER!" She blew her bangs upwards on an irritated exhalation. "The Luxana to my Deanna and the BANE of my adult life." She grunted.

Two other witches, much younger and wearing green and blue joined in the strange dance, one whirling flower petals around her, the other a brilliant spiral of water. "Wait Obachan was a witch?"

Stella sighed. "yes, Strega sided with your father. Had a mad crush on him too but she was... er... a little too outrageous for Death. In Strega's case the Sway of Magic manifested in more eccentric behavior in her rather than violent. And she was known for her boisterous antics."

"Sway?"

"its a destructive instinct that leads witches into evil. It didn't used to take all of us. Dratted Mabaa."

"Us? Mumma you're..."

"Yes Kid, I wasn't just a Meister, I was a witch as well."

"WHAT THE FUCK?" Kid demanded, backpeddling to the ground.

Stella sighed, facepalming. "Not all witches are evil, its just that the evil ones killed most of the good ones." She explained. "Your father tried to save the ones that were good, and failed. The survivors hid in the shadows, taking advantage of the soul protect skill our dark sisters created to keep away even from our own kind. Strega had the courage to stand up and fight alongside Lord Death, and for it, she, my sisters, and I paid a price. Mabaa had us all killed. And Kid, if she found out you were my boy, she'd come after you too. You have to get strong enough to fend her off. Or you will /never/ be safe."

"I... I still can't..."

"STELLA!" the old woman cackled, cupping her hands to her mouth. "COME DANCE WITH US!" She sashayed her hips.

Stella rolled her eyes. "Later mother!"

"Oh COMON! We've got all night! Lets eat, drink, and be far, far too merry for our own good!" Strega bellowed. "RIGHT GIRLS?" The other two with her chorused. "HELL YEAH!"

Stella sighed. "Thats my mom, always a party animal."

Stella rolled her eyes. Then a tall figure in the crowd became visible. He was sitting with a pair of old men, playing Shogi. The masked deity from Kid's dream!

"er... mom who's that?"

"Oh." Stella turned her head, looking over at the group. "The masked deity over there is Eibon, in fact, thats your father's parents he's playing Shogi with."

"Father's parents?" Kid realized the old man on the right had his father's eyes. That uncanny amber. That was his father's eyes alright.

"Yep." Stella chuckled. "They'd died long before I was born though. One of your grandfathers had the ability to bear children like a woman. Its an inherited trait thats recessive in shinigami."

"ah." Kid was rather shocked, in fact the entire affair was shocking, Kid didn't know where to begin, and realized he'd have to process all of this in class in his waking hours or he'd waste time. He reached up to hug his mother again before moving through the crowd to the group playing Shogi. He'd never tried to play himself, to Kid it was an old man's game, and Chess was far more refined. He'd tried playing Go, but he always lost, because he kept trying to make symmetrical formations rather than what was smart.

"heheheh, Eibon you old coot, you beat me every time."

"When your enemy is stupid its easy to win."

"Ahm not stupid, I let you be with my boy after all."

"You're playing stupidly here. You play the same game." Eibon complained. "Every time Curtana arranges a special session so that shinigami-sama doesn't have to leave the city to see us, and every time we play, you play the same tactics hoping to win. The definition of insanity, doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result." (2) Eibon's fingers were moving rapidly over the shogi board. "You're a shogi moron."

"Thats father in law shogi moron to you, /oh great wizard./" The old man growled. "I'll beat you yet."

"THAT'S your special move?" Eibon snorted. "you're infantile, I win again, come back when you learn a new strategy."

Kid kind of... stared. Eibon's attitude towards Shogi reminded him of speed chess players in Central Park mocking each other. "er..."

"One second..." Eibon smirked, and while Kid didn't know the move he used in Shogi, whomever he was playing against groaned, shoved the board away, then stormed off. "Yes?"

"er... um... my name is Death the Kid sir..."

"call me sir and I'm not doing anything for you."

"er..."

"Call me by my given name, don't tack -sama, -dono, Master or sir in there anywhere."

"I'll start with what your connection was to my father."

"Hmmm..." the man paused. "ex boyfriend."

Kid's brain ground to a halt. "excuse me?"

"Are you deaf? I didn't think deafness ran in Shinigami's family. I /said/ he's my EX BOYFRIEND." Eibon smirked.

"Um... okaaaaaaay, so then if you're his ex why aren't you his current..."

"we broke up, I went for the other girl, I died, he pined over me for eight hundred years." Eibon said sarcastically. "I left all my magic tools to him and my children, he's supposed to start collecting them if Asura ever got out of control and escaped."

"Oh." Pause. "Okay, then why would father ban magic and then turn around and use Magic tools."

"Its because of the sway of magic, its a force that induces destructive, boarderline psychotic behaviors in those who use magic. Eight hundred years ago it didn't exist. There were white and green witches in significant numbers that the sway didn't appear. As for the magic tools, using an artifact in general cuts down the safety risk rather than using magic yourself."

"You lost me."

"Its like this, originally there were three Orders of Magic. The White Order, the Green Order, and the Black Order."

"Okay."

"Each one represents a different polarity of magic. Your symmetry obsession, it dictates that all forces have to be in perfect balance yes?"

"Yes."

"when you have the white order, green order, and black order in significant numbers, the forces of magic they represent are in balance, according to your philosophy, as long as they're intact Magic is symmetrical. When the white and green magic users get down to a certain number, magic becomes unbalenced, aka asymmetrical. The result is the sway of magic, which causes the witches to act more like bitches than holy guardians. In other words, you could make the witches good again if you restored the Orders of white and green magic. Every soul has a polarity and one or two types of attack that it can use. Yours for example are Neutral polarity, spirit and magic. You could literally use any magical based technique you felt like. Its just that right now with the magic out of whack, its too dangerous to do so."

"So literally the reason why Magic is banned at shibusen is because its dangerous."

"Exactly, if your father found a way to make magic safe for the students to use, he'd have it taught at shibusen. However, its not, and its not practical to try on a large scale because the measures to do it are actually pretty time and resource consuming. You see, you can do certain things to prevent the sway of magic from taking hold, and you /can/ bring the magic back into balance. You and chrona are probably the only folks at Shibusen that I know about that would live long enough to complete a task like that. It literally would take another five hundred to eight hundred years if you started on it tomorrow. The only reason why white and green magic lost, is because the white and green witches operated on a code of ethics that included trust and working for the greater good. They'd hold back using an attack if they thought it was foul play. The black order on the other hand, had no qualms about cheating or fighting dirty. Your father put the remaining bloodlines of white and green magic in protective custody. But they literally said "you can't hide us or save us, we have to hide ourselves." So their locations are completely unknown, its even unknown if they're still around. For all you know there could be tons of them enrolling at Shibusen in secret, without your father's knowledge and with soul protect in place he'd never know they were there."

"So... you said I could use magic, magic is mostly an inherited spiritual trait."

"Your mother Stella was a witch."

"She told me, but I'm a /man./ Though I'm curious as to why my being her son is worth killing over."

"Stella is my many times descendant, her bloodline lead the green order, she was their representative to Shibusen and the only green witches who's locations were actively known by either Shibusen or Mabaa. Mabaa basically killed your mother and her entire family to keep Death from getting his hands on Magic tools that could have stopped her. Its also why your Father keeps telling you to /never/ tell anyone your mother's name. As far as you've ever told anyone, your mother died when you were five and you don't remember her. Keep it that way, because any child of both Death's bloodline /and/ the Green Order is her worst nightmare."

"How'd you know that?"

"I watch over my descendants. In many ways you /are/ mine and Shinigami-sama's child. Except you aren't /directly/ my son. You're my many times grandson. Mabaa and Asura both would kill you without hesitation, and Arachne and Medusa would try to use you first, then only kill you when you refused to join them or they found they couldn't use you. You combine Shinigami's strength with my magic. And because you're part Green witch, the Sway of Magic would have a helluva hard time getting you. You'd pretty much have to be chronically blasted with Madness to fall to the Sway, and thats not how it works." Eibon told him. "In normal people the madness just comes on slowly and gets progressively worse. A magic user /has/ to fall to the sway before they're taken by madness. Something about their souls makes them immune unless they fall to the sway first."

"So I'm immune to Madness?"

"Oh hells no, you're also part shinigami, and that part of you is just as prone to madness as anybody else. I said the /sway/ can't get you, Madness and the Sway are two different things, its just that the Sway makes it easier for you to be infected **by** madness. Also, certain kinds of magic are just plain immune to the sway or can reverse it for short periods of time. Regeneration magic for example. Mabaa /hates/ regeneration witches, she treats every single one of them like pawns and potential security breaches. You use Regeneration magic on someone who's under the Sway, and for about a /month/ it doesn't bother them. In essence, you could use Regeneration magic as an immunization against the sway of magic. Healing is a protective measure against both the Sway and Madness, depending on the type of skill and who's casting it."

"So a healing witch would be immune to the sway and could be 'safe'."

"And technically they'd be a good guy and Death could allow them safely into Shibusen without risk to the students. In fact in ages past, he /has/. Shinigami-sama is only an educator by choice, your father was a General before he was a Teacher. It shows, he can evaluate very accurately what is and isn't dangerous. He doesn't use power to determine a threat either. He uses the type of skill someone uses and their personality. Thats it. Thats how your father determines a threat. So trust me, if your father finds a way to make Magic safe, he'd use it. Thats his /whole/ reason for Magic being banned, its not safe. If he could make magic safe, he'd reverse the ban and it wouldn't be illegal anymore."

"Doesn't really make sense."

"Thats because you're not looking at /why/ Death's Rules are in place. Every single rule your father put in place, he put in place for one reason, to protect someone from something. If a rule turns out to be harmful to someone, then he'd change it. Its that simple. Eating human souls is dangerous, therefore its illegal, eating kisshin and witches souls isn't dangerous, therefore its encouraged and legal. The whole reason why any society makes the laws it does is because their lawmakers view the aforementioned law as protecting the people. If a law starts to harm the people that it was supposed to protect, then its out dated and has to be updated or abolished. Thats the way your father's mind works when he makes the rules, he makes them according to what is going to keep humans in general and the World as a whole /safe./ Its what you never understand when you look at rules. Its why you automatically assumed I was a bad guy. Its because you view rules as being rules, inviolable, immutable and sacred. You never bothered to examine why Shibusen's rules were in place, or /ask/ your father why these rules were in place. By never asking why, you automatically assumed your father was planning something terrible with my Magic Tools. You didn't stop to think that maybe the seal isn't the ONLY measure your father had against Asura. The truth is, he had at least four different measures he could take and successfully complete inside of a six month time period. And /another/ four that take a year to enact. Truth is, Asura has to strike Shibusen directly within four months of his escape or he's screwed. And he's not going to, because he's too terrified to attack Death directly until the very end. If your father can stall even six months, a direct strike against Shibusen by Asura becomes /impossible/ to successfully pull off, after a year? Asura shows his face within line of sight to death city and he's dead."

"So it is a plan of his to defeat the kisshin."

"Something like that, the problem is, he can't /just/ take out Asura. He has to take Medusa and Arachne first, then Asura, then Mabaa. Medusa and Arachne are flat out in his way. He can't get to Asura without taking them out first because the instant he moves against the Kisshin they'll pounce. Once they're out of the way, it will have been almost a year since Asura will have escaped, and Shibusen's current class will have already beefed up their skills to take Arachnephobia. In other words, he'll have an army already primed, with sufficient confidence and experience to handle themselves with the Kisshin. Asura isn't going to get away or simply be sealed this time, he'll be annihilated. Once Asura is gone though, Mabaa's still got the Sway of Magic in play. And she's /still/ got an army that will destroy /any/ white or green witch that tries to aid shibusen and put the magic back in balance. If the Magic goes back to being balenced, then she can't control the other witches anymore. Her army and her power over them is /gone./ As long as the Sway is active also, Asura's madness will remain long after he dies. So another Asura could literally rise to take his place. To keep that from happening, Mabaa has to go as well. They then place a less hostile leader of the Black Order in play, allow the white and green orders to proliferate in secret, and the magic slowly comes back into balance and the White and Green orders come out of hiding again."

"But magic is magic right? Couldn't it come back into balance without..."

"Nope. Spirit, that is to say soul energy, is an internal force generated by the soul. Magic is an /external/ force. Its the wavelength of the universe as a whole. Because magic is an external rather than an internal force, it literally gains power and character from whoever's actively using it. Because of this, you have to have people actively using White and Green magic with White and Green witches souls to bring it back into balance. Black magic isn't necessarily evil, its just that its users have a vulnerability to do evil things due to being vulnerable to the sway."

"isn't that the same thing?"

"Uh... no, this is the other way you're dense Kid, to you everything is good or evil, and you project that good and evil onto the skills they use. Its not that a skill is good or evil, its that you apply it in a good or evil way. There's a difference. Madness doesn't know that its infecting a good man and telling them to eat souls, madness is just madness. It just destroys. You're anthropomorphizing the skills your enemies use and projecting their personalities onto them. Skills aren't good or evil, they don't think, its simply that they do what their wielder tells them to. If Asura points to Death and casts madness on him, the Madness itself doesn't know what its doing, Asura does. Thats why Death sets rules about what kinds of techniques are legal and illegal, for example bringing the dead back to life? Thats why /i'm/ dead for fuck's sake. Anything that can bring the dead back to life is illegal because as a power, it leads people to believe that they're invulnerable, and thats very very evil. Resurrection erodes someone's respect for life, thats why he forbid /me/ from working on it. If I could bring you back to life, then there's no reason why I shouldn't just kill you for my amusement. After all, I can always bring you back right? It means life isn't valuable anymore because it can be bought and sold. Shinigami-sama is a God, he's /not/ going to do anything that would allow someone to buy and sell life like its a piece of fruit in the grocery store. So when Death decides if a skill should be banned, he weighs how likely or unlikely it is to be abused in an immoral way, and he decides how dangerous it is for its caster. Then he weighs these against the benefits it could bring. If the cost in safety and morals is too high, he bans it. Thats the way he's always done things. Your problem is you have a very childish, surface way of viewing the problem. You haven't yet reached the level of maturity you need to probe the secrets that you'll have to be willing to explore and look at as the next Death."

"so..."

"You're the heir to my magic and his wisdom, you're not strong enough yet. To get /my/ magic, you need to get /his/ wisdom first." Eibon sighed. "Oh... Stella honey... we were just having a talk."

Just as Kid turned around, his mother playfully scooped him up in his arms. Kid squeaked, blushing slightly, and for some reason in these final moments of the dream, he wasn't a teenager anymore, he was a child again. "I noticed." Stella deadpanned, then smirked, tickling Kid in the stomach. "But my /son/ has to go to school. Its nearly morning." Kid gave a second adorable squeak, automatically latching onto his mother. /Blast her!/ Kid mentally whined. /I completely forgot what I was going to ask Eibon next./ A beat. /Hey this is kinda comfortable./ then. /BLAST IT KID YOU NEED TO THIIIIIIIIINKKK./

Stella chuckled, giving her son a kiss on the cheek. "Ooooh, I can tell how much you missed /me./" Stella rolled her eyes. "You're clinging to me like you did when you were a baby. And I get to scoop you up like a package the way I always wanted to do!"

Kid was literally thinking. /BLAST YOU BLAST YOU BLAST YOU! MOM I CANT THINK WITH YOU CUDDLING ME./ As she said all this. Followed intermittently by. /I like this, hold onto me a little while longer./ and then /NUUUU BLAST YOU!/ again.

Kid blushed, looking up at his mother and then down again when she poked his stomach. Thats when he did a double take. There was a soft pale blue glow coming from Kid's stomach, a warm happy sort of glow that tickled. The same color as a normal soul. And then Kid sat up straight with a start.

Chrona, Liz and Patti were just waking. "BLASTIT!"

"what?" Liz mumbled drowsily.

"Soooooo much more I wanted to ask! And then mother scooped me up and I lost all ability to think coherently."

"Thats because you were completely deprived of maternal contact and then you CUT OFF all forms of physical affection until recently." Liz grumbled annoyed. "If you hadn't cut off the part of you that needed physical affection you wouldn't have had that kind of a weakness."

"oh shush, you think i'm not becoming aware of that now?" Kid put his hand in Chrona's.

"Please walk back to Shibusen, do not use Beelzebub until you're back inside the city walls." The Caretaker replied. "Have fun?"

"Eibon loves shogi, apparently." Kid chuckled as they turned to head back.

* * *

1. http:/www(dot)youtube(dot)com/watch?v=yWCOMalLhHU I'm imagining the Tenth doctor's theme for what he hears.

2. My father's personal definition for insanity.


	6. Chapter 6

Chrona stared at the board in class, thinking about the night before and getting to meet his ancestors. His grandmother and grandfather had come to his dreams with ancestors that were over a thousand years dead and gone.

They'd had him lay upon an altar, and performed two ceremonies. One was a wiccaning, an /immense/ honor. It was usually performed for a newborn witch, and since Chrona didn't have magic of his own, Medusa hadn't thought him worthy of this important witch's custom, and they also performed a belly blessing. "Since that idiot daughter of mine wouldn't let me do it for you." Chrona's grandmother scowled.

Chrona felt this... amazing rush of warmth in his abdomen with the ceremony, comforting and... amazing, it felt a lot like Kid made him feel only, this was tender, loving, caring, rather than sensual. Once the two rituals had been over, the ancestors had sat with him, telling him the stories of their upbringing and drinking tea around the fire.

The bell rang for lunch. Chrona and Kid went out to the balcony rather than the lunchroom, "So... what did you see?"

"My grandparents, and my distant ancestors." chrona said quietly. "You?"

"I met Eibon. And I learned a lot of things... stuff... I can understand a little bit why father didn't tell me, wouldn't tell me anything. He wasn't hiding something, he was protecting friends of his by not saying." Kid said quietly. "Turns out, there was a war among the witches, thats why they're like this."

"Thats what grampa said." Chrona said quietly. "There were good and bad witches and the bad ones killed all the good ones."

"It changes one's perspective a lot." Kid kept his voice low, but he sounded dispirited. The thought that he could use magic if he were taught how to, that magic was only banned because it hurt the user. It rocked his world. He'd been raised to consider witches evil, but the truth was there had once been good ones as well. He was determined to find the good witches and do what was necessary to restore them. If Magic as it stood today were asymmetrical, then he'd just have to make it symmetrical again.

Almost at the entrance to the balcony, Kid spun around and pulled Chrona into a tight hug. Chrona blinked. "I... don't know how to deal with this... but it feels real nice." Chrona mumbled, hugging back.

People pointedly ignored them, walking past the two through the hall on the way to lunch.

The pair got to the balcony, and found themselves in good company. Blackstar, Soul, Maka and Tsubaki were there, curled up in their respective boyfriend and girlfriends embraces. And Liz and Patti were waiting for them.

"so..." Maka hmmmed. "I found what it was called."

"No waaaaaaaaaaay."

"Hahaha, coolest partner ever, you'll get the fire stick for sure!"

"Teeeell meeeee..." whined Blackstar. "I want a cool stick for starting fires!"

"No way, you'd probably set the place on fire." Lunch went down quickly, and then there was...

… for some reason Chrona didn't dread the survival lesson. After all, he'd seen some pretty crazy things, what could be worse than what he'd survived at Medusa's hands?

Survival lessons was starting a fire, "ITS CALLED JEWEL HEATING!" Maka pounced on Azusa the instant they entered her clearing.

Azusa blinked, then remembered her question. "very good. Maka gets the firesteel."

"YES!" "nuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu." Ox wailed that last one.

The next hour and a half was spent working on different methods for starting a fire and four different ways to purify water. Discussions of dehydration, and the signs of it, were brought into this lesson. "Tomorrow we'll work on shelter. I want you to identify four edible plants in the nevada area and be able to tell me in three days."

And so the lessons over the next few days continued. Shelter was a curious topic. Chrona learned that sleeping on the bare ground in a cold environment was dangerous, and could cause hypothermia faster. Azusa had even had a friend of hers use a snowmaker to create an arctic environment and show them how to use snow for shelter.

And by Friday Maka wanted to call a meeting at her house about the next day's survival exercise. Well, Kid suggested they make an evening of it. He was still working on filling his pack and deciding what should go on his person instead.

Chrona thought the knives were... rather cool, and was inspecting gear while Kid took a bath. Soul came in. "Hey chrona, where's kid?"

Chrona pointed to the bathroom. "Washing up."

"I'd better go in and make sure he's not washing his hands endlessly."

Chrona nodded and continued selecting items for his bag. "Any idea where we're going?"

"Azusa sensei wouldn't tell us." Soul replied. Kid complained the whole time Soul tried to get him to come out, and somewhere in this, Soul ended up falling in the bath with kid, this time with his clothes on. Soul exited the bathroom on Kid screaming. "MY HAIR HASNT BEEN WASHED A SYMMETRICAL NUMBER OF TIMES YET!" after him.

Soul sighed. "Maka... he's bu..." Soul realized Sid was down in the hall talking to Maka, Blackstar and Tsubaki. "Soul come here please?"

"What is it?"

"When the four of you get back, you're going to be going to visit a friend of Lord Death's, well four friends."

"Who?"

"They're called the watchtowers. After the usual lights out hour in the dorms, a tiger witch dressed in white will be coming to collect you. You'll be gone overnight while she escorts you and keeps watch."

"Keeps watch where?"

"The watchtowers are confined to the shrine they live in, they're physically incapable of leaving it." Sid replied. "I'd prefer you didn't blab who the guard was if you don't mind."

"Alright." Soul sighed. "What sort of thing does Lord Death want us to do?"

"The watch towers give the people they resonate with the ability to speak to their genetic or spiritual ancestors, and they can do it for Meister, Weapon, anyone really. Lord Death has selected some of the brightest or best students at Shibusen, or those whom he thinks could benefit from the services of the Watchtowers."

"You said they resonate, are they some kind of weapon?"

"Yeah." sid grimaced. "They're excalibur's older sisters."

"eeeeww, they aren't like him I hope."

"Nope. They hate him. They'd only do this for Lord Death if he had Azusa lock him up in a power blocking straight jacket!"

Soul cackled. "Sounds like a pretty cool bunch of weapons to hang with."

"Alright, we'll go. We have to plan for our outing though."

Sid left, and the group gathered. On one side, Maka, Soul, Blackstar, Tsubaki, Kid, Liz, Patti and Chrona. On the other Kim, Jackie, Kilik, Fire, Thunder, Ox and Havar. "So..." Maka stared across the room at her hated rival. "Azusa-sensei put us in different teams for the survival classes. And the option of being one team if we wanted to be."

"Are you suggesting an alliance?" Ox asked.

"Yeah." Maka cracked her knuckles. "Survival isn't just about the technical skills, we already have the mindset. Shibusen students help each other. We share a common bond of camaraderie. If we were fleeing for our lives from an /actual/ battle, would we leave each other behind?"

"Good point." Kilik cracked his knuckles.

"er..." Kim spoke up. "I think I have a clue where we're going. When I caught her on lunch break to ask a question about gear, Azusa-sensei was reading a guidebook for Lake Biwa, and she was on the phone speaking in Japanese to someone."

"So it looks like we're going to Lake Biwa then." Ox pulled out his palm pilot and pecked out a few commands on it. "hmm, not difficult. The north side of the lake is ceded to Shibusen and slated to be developed as a military village." Military villages were like miniature bases. These bases usually held no more than 100 weapon meister pairs, enabling small local protection that answered to its regional deathscythe. In this case, Azusa. (2)

"That means that if we have to be airlifted out to the hospital that medical treatment isn't that far off." Mused Kim. "Alright, I'll be the team medic. I'm ahead of my class in first aid."

"Interesting, I believe bringing a fishing kit might be worthwhile in our gear." Kid had gotten onto his laptop and looked up lake biwa. "It says that bluegills and black bass have caused serious damage to the environment there. The local authorities are encouraging eating them."

"That means Azusa-sensei made it relatively easy for us to deal with this." Chrona mused. "Food and help nearby in an emergency."

Maka giggled. "You're so cute Chrona."

Chrona blushed.

"I see how it is then, they start off easy, then work up to something harder." Soul sighed. "Great, so fishing is a good idea? I'll pack the bait if someone packs the hooks." he licked his lips. "Bluegills are GREAT eating, you can press cheese on a hook and they'll come /swarming./"

Kid was more than ready the next morning, and the team met an early flight. It took a /loooooooooong/ time. And what happened, started in the air plane bathroom.

Kid had had too much soda on the flight, so when he went to go to the bathroom, he stopped at the sink and washed his hands. Then the thought entered his mind._ they're still covered in germs._ Kid groaned. "no they're not, I just washed them." _they're still covered in germs, and if you don't wash your hands 8 times you're going to get sick again._ Kid squealed, hurrying to wash his hands 8 times.

Kid sat in his seat with a groan. Liz quirked a brow. "Flight nerves." Kid lied. Kid knew full well the symptoms of OCD. And he knew which of those symptoms were typical for him. An urge so palpable that it was almost a voice in his head was nothing new. His mind often shoved his own compulsions into his head unbid. But hand washing, that was a new compulsion. He hadn't had to wash his hands before. Kid wasn't quite sure what to make of it. Except... the urge had seemed stronger than before.

There's a distinct difference between logical knowledge and actual behavior. Kid /knew/ that OCD tended to be the mind causing an error in cause and effect. Do compulsion X or bad thing Y will happen/is true. In a search for understanding as a young child, he'd read as many books as he could find on his own disorder. It was a search for putting Order into something that was complete chaos. (3)

But resisting the siren song of his symmetry obsession was /far/ too hard for him, so he'd simply embraced his compulsion and tried to find a philosophical ideal into the bargain, hence Kid's philosophy of putting good and evil in balance with each other. It was a philosophy that Kid felt he would have embraced even if it weren't for his OCD. So he didn't mind using it.

Kid sighed, falling asleep on the plane. He was in the shrine again, and Eibon was standing there. He was beckoning for Kid to come close to him. When Kid walked up to the god, he tried to say something, but no words came out. Kid could /sense/ that Eibon wanted to say something to him, was trying to get a message across. But he couldn't hear what the wizard was saying. In the end, Eibon grew frustrated, and pointed at Kid's stomach, from which a pale blue light started to glow.

Turbulence rattled Kid out of a pleasant somnolence. "this is Shibusen callsign EAT troop carrier eleven, we are go for landing, fifteen minutes out."

"you slept for like, hours Kid."

Kid chuckled. "if I get jetlag I'll take an appropriate watch shift."

The group stepped out of the airplane, and Maka squealed. "MOM!" running to the blonde figure standing at the other end of the runway.

"hello there Maka." Kami smiled. "Are you having fun?"

"Uhuh! Azusa-sensei and Marie sensei are teaching me a lot of stuff!"

"I'm glad." Kami turned to go, "This is Alianne Zuleta, my current partner and a scythe. She spent quite a while stationed at our North africa branch." Alianne was dark skinned, but with these glittering pale green eyes, almost ice colored. Her hair done up in braids, with ornaments dangling from the ends and even feathers. She was wearing african tribal garments, and a huge grin with very white, pearly, straight teeth. Her frame was curvy, but not overly so. Neither to fat, nor too skinny, nor too curvaceous. Her heart shaped face made her appear more youthful than a second glance would have her appear. (4)

"Its a pleasure." Alianne smiled, bowing politely. "I've heard a lot about you Maka. Your mother is a good woman, she's been a very reliable and insightful partner."

Maka blushed, she was still lying to her friends about Kami not really being her mother. She didn't want anyone to know yet except for the people who knew already. Hell, she was dating, making out with, and playing handsies with Tsubaki at night, and even the kursari gama didn't know.

"mom, when the exercise is over, can we talk in private?" Maka asked suddenly.

"Of course honey." Kami said with a smile. "Your father giving you a hard time?"

"Something like that. He told me some things I don't quite know what to make of."

"I see... I was afraid that was the case." Kami pursed her lips. "Right, Alianne isn't coming with us, since she's a north africa native, she knows more about desert survival than woodland."

They hopped a jeep, which took them to a dirt road, which then ended abruptly. No picnic table, no fire pit, just a trail leading off into the forest. "We're going to start by making the same mistake some hikers make, and I've seen five young meister weapon pairs who made the SAME mistake hunting Kisshins eggs in woodlands. We didn't find one of them for three whole weeks. Get your packs on and be ready to run. There's four windfalls in the area, things you can use to help you during the outing that i've hidden. Have you elected to go in two teams or one?"

"One." Ox replied. "We figured it would be easier for our first survival outing."

The group was busy pulling their backpacks out of the jeep. "The scenario is simple, you get sent on a mission to eliminate a kisshin's egg killing backpackers in back country. In this case in Japan. Though it could happen in almost /any/ mission you'd find in North america or settled asia or south america. But something goes wrong, there turns out to be not one Kisshin's egg but four, your partner gets injured, and in the middle of a strategic retreat, you get lost."

"I'm going to simulate an injury on one of you. So..." Kami shoved her hand into her backpack and came out with one twig for each member of the group. "Short twig plays our injured partner. Each of you take one."

The group took their twigs. Kid /groaned/ he'd pulled the short twig. "Okay mister Death the Kid." Kami rubbed her hands together. "Roll up your right sleeve." Kid rolled up his right sleeve as told. Kami pulled out a red marker. "Gash here and here..." She sighed. "left pants leg, c'mon, roll it up."

Kid whined when the ink went on. The simulated injury was making him asymmetrical! "aaaand, across the chest, we'll say a broken rib. And a..." red line up the left leg. "... broken leg."

Kid was sweating buckets, trying /very/ hard not to explode. It was only when Kami stopped putting the marker on him. "don't I get to choose the simulated injury site?" He whined.

"Can you control where your enemy will inflict a wound Kid?" Kami asked, annoyedly.

"No."

"Then for the sake of realism, you can't choose what part of you is injured. Now... RUN! Come on, lets go, RUN RUN RUN!" Kid turned to run. "No you limp. Lean on Liz and Patti." Kami corrected him.

They ran, down the path, headlong towards something glimmering in the distance. Kid hobbled between Liz and Patti, who were moving as fast as they could. "Liz, Patti, if this ever actually happens, do me a favor and break the other leg so that I'm in symmetrical casts."

"Kamiiiiiiiiiii... CHOP!" Kami chopped Kid, /very/ hard with a copy of "Flora and Fauna of Japan."

"OOOOOOOOOOOOWWW" Kid howled. "What the hell was that for?"

"In a survival situation your legs are almost as reliable a survival tool as your weapon partners. If your legs are broken, then you can't get food, you can't try to self rescue, you CANT get water, and you can't RUN if there's a hostile Kisshin or Witch HUNTING FOR YOUR SOUL! Do not EVER let your father or your teachers hear of you /purposefully/ sabotaging your chances of survival in an actual crisis situation, or you'll end up in a mental hospital for self injurious behavior!" Kami roared.

Kid cried. "But I must be injured symmetrically!"

"If you were running from a Kisshin trying to EAT you would you be worried about symmetry or FLEEING FOR YOUR LIFE?" Kami demanded.

Kid whimpered and ran, saying nothing even though his OCD was screaming at him to make the markings meaning a fake injury symmetrical.

They came to the shore of the lake, and Kami turned abruptly, preventing Havar from falling into the water as they moved along the shore.

It took another mile, maybe more, before Kami was satisfied that they were lost enough to begin the exercise. "Alright, BEGIN, first aid treatment! Kim, Maka, get on it! The rest of you search for something to use for shelter and things for a fire, go go go!"

Kid plopped down, exhausted, Liz and Patti had to catch their breath as well. "Kid..." Kami patted Kid on the head. "I'm sorry, I know that I was rough. But think rationally. If this were for real, and your life was at stake, would symmetry be worth /grevious/ self injury? Don't say its worth sacrificng yourself for, you have a duty to succeed Lord Death. Think about what your father would feel if your OCD resulted in your death." Kami said coldly, before she hung back to observe.

Kim quickly had Kid's arm and leg done up in a splint, and bandages across his chest to simulate the cracked rib. Maka helped a little, but Kim knew what she was doing far better than Maka. Kid sighed, realizing that Kami was right, his responsibility to succeed his father /far/ outweighed any importance symmetry could have in a crisis situation. No symmetrical injuries for him.

"KAMI-SENSEI!" Kilik came running out of the forest. "Kisshin souls, HUNDREDS of them!"

"Kilik don't kid."

"I'm not kidding! There was a battle near here earlier! Dead kisshin souls! JUST FLOATING THERE! And swords and caution tape stuck into /everything!/ There's acid and poison and lots and lots and lots of spilled ink!"

Blackstar didn't hesitate, he jumped up and /ran/ in the direction Kilik had just come from all but howling. "MIFUNEEEE! ANGELAAAA! WHERE ARE YOUUUUU?" Tsubaki squealed. "Blackstar! Don't run off without your partner!"

Kami groaned, the rest of the group dropped their survival examination tasks to follow.

Blackstar stopped cold when they hit the edge of the battlefield, ink, black kisshin blood, poison, acid, and floating kisshins egg souls, already slain, littered the battlefield. Stuck into rock and tree, hundreds of swords. And tattered caution tape littered the area, ripped apart by /great/ force along with the scenery.

Kami's hands flew to her mouth at the slaughterhouse. Blackstar's jaw about hit the floor. "once more Mifune shines more brightly than I do... DAMN YOU MIFUNE! NOBODY SHINES BRIGHTER THAN THE MIGHTY BLACKSTAR!"

"Search the area." Kami ordered. "A survival exercise has just become an official investigation. Kid, you can stop faking injuries for now." Kami sighed.

Kid's jaw dropped. "You know the person who did this?"

"Mifune, bodyguard to Witch Angela." Blackstar replied, having ranted, Blackstar's expression was steel as the weapons went to weapon form. Their meisters picked up their partners and spread out, searching the battlefield.

"OYE!" ox pointed. One of the Kisshin souls floated over to one of the swords, the sword glowed white, the kisshin soul was absorbed /into/ the sword. (5) Then the sword/soul changed into a white orb, which floated off through the forest.

"Follow it!" Kami hissed.

The group ran after the orb, though Maka had to haul Soul back from eating one of the kisshin souls with a warning of. "don't cheat, these belong to the weapon that slayed them unless we get told otherwise."

"Mifune doesn't use a weapon, he uses some kind of supernatural sword but I was never able to figure out what. Its definitely not a weapon though." Blackstar was running as fast as his legs could carry him.

"You seem to know a lot about this man."

"Not as much as I want to know. We could have made Tsubaki a deathscythe in one fell swoop if it weren't for Mifune and Angela's /age./" Blackstar sighed. "Witch or not, I couldn't bring myself to slay a kid. If she grows up and becomes evi, then I'll kill Angela, but I... couldn't raise my partner to a child and sleep at night." He admitted, ashamed.

"you have nothing to be ashamed of for showing character. Frankly Lord death would have frowned upon you killing Angela even if she was a kid. You spared her, proving you have a sense of right and wrong. To him, its indicative of your character as a Meister." Kami told him. "Death doesn't try to tell people what they should and shouldn't believe in, he presents someone with a situation and lets them make their own decision. Thats why I'm willing to follow him, because he leaves making /choices/ to the person making the choice and doesn't try to force his opinions on other people."

"I see." blackstar sighed.

"Sounds wise." Kid frowned.

The orb stopped at a thicket. Varying reptiles, namely lizards escaped from somewhere, had gathered around two forms on the ground. An extremely weak Angela was slowly turning white, as if all the color were being /drained/ out of her, hair, eyes, skin, even her clothes. This wasn't like albinism where one's eyes were red as a result, her russet brown eyes had gone white with the rest of her. "Hang on Mifune, I've got you, hang on a little longer."

Mifune was prone on the ground, covered in his own blood and ink. "ANGELA!" Tsubaki cried, breaking from weapon form and scooping the tiny witch up.

Angela coughed slightly when picked up, and when the sleeve of her robes rolled up Tsubaki realized that Angela's right arm was mangled, all but unusable where acid burns and the puncture marks of poisonous fangs had destroyed any chances she had of ever using the limb again. "Ts... Tsubaki-san..." Angela stammered, the orb floated over to Mifune's prone form, and was absorbed into his body. "Please... let me go, time is short, I have to finish!"

"What happened?" blackstar demanded.

"Mister Noah turned on us!" Angela wailed. "He wanted to collect Mifune but Mifune said no! And Noah... he... he..." Angela burst into tears. More orbs were floating towards them, the lizards that had gathered around and tried to climb onto the young witch, making sad noises. "Partway into the battle, Mifune awakened as a weapon! But Noah said that being a weapon didn't make him unique anymore, and that it was time to throw Mifune away! He made his pet gopher help him beat Mifune up and then they left him in the woods like this! Mifune told me to run! As far away as I could get! But I couldn't leave him! I nebber had a father..." Angela sobbed. "But Mifune was the closest thing I'd ever had to one! He was all I had! I don't want there to be a world without Mifune..."

"Angela, your arm..." Tsubaki was crying, holding the little witch tightly, a clearly maternal side to the weapon showing through.

"Its not going to matter Tsubaki... not for much longer..."

"What do you mean?"

"I've seen this ritual once before, Mabaa has outlawed it. Any witch that performs it is branded a traitor. Its called "The Witch's Blessing." In which a witch voluntarily sacrifices her soul to a weapon that has obtained 99 kisshin souls to become a deathscythe. The deathscythe that gets that blessing then gets special powers. Its the only /surefire/ way for a Deathscythe to get a special ability, as simply /gaining/ a special skill upon reaching that rank is not a 100 percent guerantee." Kami explained. "This is the only gueranteed way of creating a Deathscythe that has a special power. Because the ritual would provide death with a more powerful personal weapon than your average deathscythe, the ritual is /expressly/ forbidden." Kami said quietly.

"yes... I'm dying. Noah's monsters inflicted four different kinds of poison. My magic is trying to eliminate them from my system automatically, but it can only deal with two of them, and the onslaught is too much, too fast." Angela had tears in her eyes. "I don't see any other choice, even with you here... we wouldn't reach a hospital in time. We're too far out. This is my choice, I want to live on as part of Mifune." Angela sobbed. "I don't want to be put in some random weapon or to simply float there forever as a disembodied ball, thats too scary! I want to be with Mifune no matter what forever and ever!"

The orbs circled, merging with Mifune's body one by one. "You're using the swords as a delivery system." Kami mused.

Blackstar had tears in his eyes, he sat down hard next to Tsubaki on the ink and blood soaked ground, and wrapped his arms around Angela from the other side. Kami motioned the others back as the white continued to spread over Angela's form. "I've almost got it... thats 95..." Angela counted the orbs as they merged with Mifune. "96... 97... 98... 99..." The last orb. "Thats it... now I just have to wait."

"is there... anything you want me to say to him when he wakes up?" Blackstar asked, voice cracking as he tried to keep his cool.

"Tell him I'm sorry I had to go, I loved him. He wasn't my real father, but he was the best parent a witch could ask for. And that... I wanted him to live... I wanted to be with him forever." Angela said quietly. "please blackstar, tell Mifune how much I loved him? More than all the stars in the sky, more than all the fish in the sea... more than life itself, my soul is my final gift to him, take good care of it, promise me you'll protect him..." Angela begged softly.

"I promise Angela." Blackstar looked up at Soul with this pained look in his eyes. This /empty/ blank look.

"I promise too." Tsubaki sobbed. "i'm so sorry Angela, I wish it hadn't turned out this way."

"We were supposed to be enemies when I grew up anyway..." Angela said quietly. "Its easier this way."

Tsubaki was aghast. "don't say that..." the white had almost completely engulfed Angela.

"Blackstar, Tsubaki, goodbye, and thank you. Just like Mifune, you weren't scared of me, nor did you want to use me selfishly... for this... you were truly good people... I wish... we could... have been friends..." Angela's body began to dissolve, the white having covered her over entirely. Her eyes closed, falling limp in Tsubaki's arms.

Tsubaki broke down, sobbing in her grief, and Blackstar raised his head to the sky and howled his rage and anguish. A tiny purple orb, covered in an ornate golden filigree that looked like a chameleon, appeared, floating over to Mifune. The orb bent to Mifune's lips, nudging them open and slipping inside. Mifune struggled briefly, moaning Angela's name in a fevered delusion.

Mifune's body glowed, and pulsed, massive amounts of energy burst outwards from him. Then he was still, frighteningly so.

Kim moved forwards with Kami, Kami checked him over. "Mifune has an extremely high fever, but it seems as if his soul wavelength is slowly cleansing the poison. It will take a few days."

Kim sighed, closing her eyes as she felt what was going on in his body. It was bacterial venom. An extremely virulent strain. If this was what Angela had been infected with, there was no saving her. It was more dangerous than a Komodo dragon's bite. But... there was no way they'd ever know for sure now.

"Lets get him back to camp, at least we have a real injury, so Kid won't have to simulate injuries anymore." Kami sighed. "The extraction team will come tomorrow afternoon, we just have to hold on until then. Mifune will recover, a day or two wouldn't make a difference since his body is regenerating slowly. Angela's gift, his powers as a deathscythe must be for some kind of healing."

"is that unusual?" Maka asked.

"There's a higher instance of Deathscythes with special powers in female weapons, some say that its the witch's soul reacting to their feminine gender. Healing is a VERY rare deathscythe power. Its Angela's love for Mifune, thats why this is happening." Kami picked up Mifune, carrying the O-samurai to a cave system Ox and Havar had found for use as a shelter. Caves weren't the best shelters, they could get pretty cold, but for a two day excursion it would do.

They used rushes and pine boughs to make a bed for Mifune, and then covered him over with an emergency blanket. Then Kim got out her first aid kit. "Damnit, the fever medicine must have fallen out when I went to pack." She got up. "i'm going to find some herbs for fever. Ox, an you help me?"

"Sure..." Ox said quietly.

Soul found Blackstar, despondently sitting by the lake. He silently sat next to the assassin and wanna be god's side, wrapping an arm around his waist. Blackstar leaned into the touch, and they leaned into each other for comfort. "I wouldn't have wanted to stay with a boyfriend that would kill a kid, even if it was for a mission, and not feel bad about it."

"Thanks Soul, that means something."

And Tsubaki... Maka found her a ways away, curled up in a ball in the reeds, sobbing uncontrollably. Maka pulled Tsubaki into her arms, and the ninja weapon cried into her chest. Maka pulled Tsubaki into a chaste, comforting kiss, which she deepened, and returned. Then, the floodgates /really/ opened, and Tsubaki's wail of anguish could be heard echoing through the forest.

* * *

1. Wiccaning is the wiccan christening ceremony, and a "belly blessing" is a ritual for a pregnant woman and her baby.

2. IRL Lake biwa is densely populated, if you wiki it it has a satellite photo. If you look at that photo you see that except for some space at the northern tip Lake Biwa has settlement all around it. Picture then a large tract of unsettled land at the very northern tip.

3. Anxiety disorder, OCD and Compulsive Hoarding, also known as Diogenes syndrome all have one thing in common despite being different disorders, an uncontrollable pattern of thoughts that results in a specific type of behavior. Anxiety disorders are an irrational fear that something unreasonably bad is going to happen that results in severe physical and mental difficulties. In OCD this pattern of thought is more focused on cause and effect. If I don't do X compulsion than Y will happen. Compulsive Hoarding often starts with feelings of guilt about waste, if I throw out X, then I may need it for Y and not have it when I need it. I've experienced anxiety before, its not fun, and you can't control the thoughts that enter your head when an anxiety attack occurs.

In Soul Eater, Kid illustrates this tendency of OCD when Liz and Patti point out that his lines of Sanzu make him asymmetrical, and he falls to his knees beating the ground wailing about how he's horrible scum and should just die. Likewise, when he can't make something symmetrical, this similar behavior ensues. X is symmetry, Y is his worth as a person. The complete compulsive thought is "if I'm asymmetrical, I'm a failure and a bad person." Therefore, while an insistence on cleanliness is expected for Kid due to his disorder, a compulsion involving handwashing, germs and his number of fixation, 8, is unusual. Kid's compulsions typically revolve around symmetry. The only exception noted is when Kid and Blackstar went to meet Excalibur in episode 9 of the anime and the corrosponding chapter in the manga, when Kid doesn't want to get in the water. The reasons for this are different in the anime sub and dub and in the manga as well. In the anime dub, Kid simply doesn't like the water, and it can be inferred that being wet would make him asymmetrical, and therefore he doesn't want the water. Similar explanation is given in the sub. However, in the manga Kid states he doesn't like mud in the same scene. Still, in this instance, dub, sub, or manga, this dislike of mud and water can still be inferred as either an aversion to dirt and germs, /or/ an attempt to avoid the water making him asymmetrical.

I highly doubt that Kid would be unaware that his behavior is a disease, likewise, I'd like to think he knows his own mind enough to know what compulsion is usual, and what is out of the ordinary. I think that Kid uses philosophy to rationalize his Symmetry obsession in a way that doesn't make it quite seem as crazy as it sounds.

4. Alianne Zuleita is drawn from the dragonriders of pern series, one of the early queen riders was Alianna Zuleita, who impressed in the second clutch of dragons made by Kitti and Windblossom Ping in "Dragonsdawn". Alianna died in childbirth in "Chronicles of Pern, first fall" and her descendent, Zulaya is Weyrwoman of Telgar Weyr in "Dragonseye" published in the UK as red star rising. In my gatekeepers rp series, a brittish yari with the same name, Alianne Nakatsukasa is a long lost cousin of Tsubaki's, who's ancestor was separated from the rest of the Nakatsukasa clan, causing Yari to disappear from Nakatsukasa as a weapon form. Had aforementioned ancestor not been forcefully separated from Nakatsukasa by a dimensional rift, Tsubaki would have had another possible mode to acquire, yari mode. In this fanfic, Alianne is a scythe, and her given description is what I would find attractive in a black woman. . yes, i'm white, I still wouldn't mind inter racial dating, wanna make something of it?

5. If you watch Blackstar versus Mifune round two, you see that after Mifune uses the attack multiplication, his swords change into energy, then dispell back to their places and change back into their swords. This implies that Mifune's attacks /do/ have some spirit energy related aspect /to/ them.


	7. Chapter 7

It was a long night. A very long night. Blackstar couldn't sleep. Mifune was out cold. "Here." Kim handed Blackstar a tin cup full of herbal tea. "chamomile. To help you relax."

Blackstar harumphed. "the big me doesn't need a cup full of herbs and water to relax."

Kim puffed out her cheeks. "I'm /trying/ to help. I didn't even know magic like that /existed./ I didn't think that witches would sacrifice themselves willingly for weapons either, but if that ritual has been around long enough for Mabaa to make it forbidden apparently its happened."

"Why do you find that so unusual?" Blackstar asked. "Maka and Soul get along fine with Blair."

"Blair is a cat who can use magic. She's a very useful ally but she hardley counts as an actual witch. After all, they lost their kisshin souls when Soul ate Blair's first life."

"True that." Maka sighed. "I don't even count Blair as a witch, just as an annoyance."

Blackstar sighed, laying back on the cave. "I wonder..."

"A long, long time ago, witches were good. But that was before the Dark Times. Before Asura." Kami said darkly. "Now Magic is so dangerous, nobody can use it safely except in certain, very specific circumstances."

"Specific Circumstances?" Ox asked.

They were gathered around the fire near the cave entrance, sipping some home made chamomile tea (Kim's recipe) in tin cups. Mifune was feverish not far beyond, tended to in his venom induced illness. They'd set him down on a mattress of pine branches and covered him with an emergency blanket. "Witches who can heal are immune to the dark energy that tends to take their kind. And some people speculate that the "good witches" simply went under ground to form a new community. But its /extremely/ hard to find them. Trust me, chasing one of the Green or White Order is like chasing the Holy Grail or the Free Masons. It leads to danger, intreague, and usually someone ending up dead." Kami sipped from her cup. "We used to tell stories about them when I was a girl. Including speculation that maybe they'd hidden within Shibusen, using soul protects to keep from being noticed and hiding from Lord Death because they believe him knowing about them will lead to Mabaa finding out they're still alive." Kami pointed out. "Even soul perception has thus far been unable to see through the soul protect of a witch. And Soul Protect would also protect the White and Green Orders from their own kind."

"So what's the story with them?" Maka asked. "You never told me about them when we were growing up."

"Because its considered information Shibusen students don't need, the White and Green Orders are thought to be extinct, and because of this its easier to teach that witches are evil, and then teach when a student is old enough to appreciate the history that there used to be good witches, and now there aren't and this is why." Kami seemed to be searching the air above her for words, pushing her blonde bangs back from her face as she sipped her tea.

"In Ancient times the Eight Great Old Ones were a group of eight powerful families of Shinigami, each one representing a different aspect of creation. Shinigami-sama's of course represented the cycle of life and death. Eibon's family line represented the Mysteries of the world, not only of the Soul or of Magic, but also of science and technology. Asura's of course represented fear and all the darkness and insanity that comes with it, but his bloodline also represented Chaos and disorder and though the Demon god himself is male, and so are Eibon and Shinigami-sama, originally the Family Leaders were all Female and the Wanderers, as this tribe was called, had a female power structure. Eibon headed the Green Order, an order of witches and wizards dedicated to magic as it was found in nature, termed "Green Magic" this was the most popular form of Witchcraft practiced for most of the recorded and unrecorded past of the Earth and dates all the way back to the Paleolithic era, but has evolved as time went on. Nature Shamen like Fire and Thunder owe their skills to Green Magic. Its accepted by Shibusen as part of the natural order. The White Order was lead by Saint Michelle Argent De Nostradamus the White. The Saint part was given to her by Lord Death himself. Michelle was regal, queenly, and very curious about her surroundings. Michelle's order focused more on having a tight connection with the divine and was more skilled at divination and astronomy based rituals than the green order, though both groups enjoyed scientific pursuit."

"The Witches as we know them were originally vassals of the Shinigami, followers skilled both in the Mystic arts and combat. In addition to the witches they had soldiers and scholars following them. And many skilled humans who had no magical ability but plenty of intelligence or strength between them. From the time of Rome onwards however, things began to change. It was finally with the rise of the Christian Church and its practice of burning witches at the stake that brought about a change in the magic."

"The Magic Users were divided on how they wished to handle the Church's persecution of Witches and Wizards. Some favored going under ground and hiding, but several greek and norse clans of witches that were previously friendly wanted to slaughter the Christians and burn the Vatican to the ground. Still more wanted to pursue peace with the Vatican and convince them not to execute those that were different from them."

"Although quite young at the time, a young witch from what would later be named Siberia took leadership of the militant faction, she is the now Head Witch Mabaa. To this day, she has preached that the way the world is run today is the result of intolerance and hatred, she criticized Lord Death for insisting on remaining neutral. In fact, Lord Death was one of those who preached mediation and pacifism. While his colleagues Eibon and Michelle advocated going underground and hiding. Indeed, Michelle disappeared from their encampment with a large band of Witches and was last seen heading west towards a Norse Village. Death later found signs she had settled in the desert at Choco Canyon and Mesa Verde, indeed, the southwest indians still tell stories of the strange woman who could talk to foxes and perform soul resonance with animals. One of the more popular stories says that she came upon an Anasazi village besieged by a rather largish Kisshin's egg, lulled it to sleep with some kind of magic instrument, and then beheaded it using Excalibur's sister, Curtana, back before the four Watchtowers were forced into weapon form, never able to come out again. But Curtana is currently confined to a shrine, and she /isn't/ talking."

"Mabaa became increasingly violent, until she herself took control of the other witches, and either killed them or exiled them to North America, then marked on maps as Vinland, though we know it as the Northeast. However, even North America wasn't safe, as the conquistadores and English colonists pushed the white and green Orders further and further to the edges of the New World and finally /permanently/ into hiding or total annihalation. Now... all that is left are Dark Witches, vulnerable to the Sway of Magic and to Asura's Madness."

"Over time, a Tradition involving this history evolved, Lord Death opted not for an official record, because an authoritative textbook on the subject would be less flexible, but rather for an oral tradition, passed down by Deathscythe Meisters and Deathscythes to younger generations of EAT students, usually in a natural setting, in homage to Eibon, who they say was Death's favorite among his comrades."

Kid frowned into his chamomile. "So its never overtly talked about?"

"no, its not." Kami said quietly. "We talk about the white and green orders today like we talk about the Templars or Freemasons. We tell stories about them, but thats about it." Kami sighed. "Lord death would like to see them restored, but that would require their members to A. still be living and B. be willing to join Shibusen."

"So why don't they?" Jaqueline asked.

Kim's face twitched slightly. "Think about it from their point of view, Lord death isn't a witch, so he's not one of them, and Mabaa is still around causing trouble, as are the Gorgons. They probably lost confidence in his ability to protect them and decided that Shibusen was incompetent and unable or unwilling to help them."

Kid was silent, looking over at Kim, though he didn't think it was that simple, he drew a similar conclusion. Blackstar meanwhile, didn't really care, he was curled up in a heap with a sobbing Tsubaki on one side and leaning on Soul's shoulder with the other, his eyes unusually dark and depressed.

A soft groan from Mifune startled everyone, Blackstar ran over. "MIFUNE!" Blackstar grabbed Mifune by the shoulders and shook him. "WAKE UP MIFUNE! LOOK AT MY FACE THE SIGHT OF THE GREAT ME SHALL HEAL YOU! FOR I AM LIKE THE..." **BONG BASH BAM!** Maka, Kim and Kami simultaneously chopped Blackstar on the head.

"Do you really, really think that shouting and SHAKING a sick man is going to help?" Kim roared. She thrust out her hand. "Shaking the patient fee, NOW." (1)

"But I don't have any money." Blackstar whined.

"Then you shouldn't have shook the patient." Maka growled. "Didn't you learn your lesson after Chrona slashed up Soul and I /hit/ you?"

"SHUT... UP..." Mifune grated out, clearly in pain. "My head is /pounding/. I'm so tired I can't even open my eyes, and BLACKSTAR woke me up."

"Sorry." blackstar squeaked.

Mifune's body had tensed up while he spoke, but it relaxed again, and his even, but labored breathing told those nearby that he'd passed out again.

It was a long, extremely depressing night. And it was only in front of Soul that Blackstar was willing to cry. True, he considered Mifune a rival. That didn't mean he wanted him to die. Or to suffer like this. Angela was Mifune's reason for fighting, what was he gonna do now that she's gone?

Soul held Blackstar tightly in his arms while it was his watch, and around ten that night he heard Mifune moan in pain again. "You woke up again."

"fat lot of good it did. My head feels like a marching band is playing inside it." Mifune mumbled sleepily. His voice was so weak and soft, it was only because of Soul's good ear as a musician that he could make out clearly what Mifune was saying.

Soul reached out and pressed a hand to Mifune's forehead. The samurai's head was burning up, the fever was severe. Soul didn't need a thermometer to make a guess, at least 101, possibly a degree or two higher. Then he heard it. The sound... almost like a singing bowl, ringing from Mifune's wavelength and carried through his head. "Your wavelength is making a sound. Like a singing bowl." (2)

"Is that normal?"

"I don't know, I'm not like my Meister or her mother. I can't see souls. I can hear them on occasion, but only when Maka's nearby." Soul replied.

"I see." Mifune's voice was raspy, like he was having trouble breathing. "Is blackstar awake?"

"he's sleeping, please don't wake him up."

"You're his classmate?"

"I'm his boyfriend." Soul said that a bit more sharply.

"Possessive are we?" Mifune groaned. "Where's Angela?"

"you need to rest."

"answer me." Mifune husked. "where is she? I feel her nearby, but I can't figure out where."

"Its an answer better given when you're not /ill./" Soul said cooly. "It wouldn't be cool of me to tell you in the state you're in and I don't /know/ you. Better that Blackstar tells you when you're better."

"I could die like this. I'm sick."

"you aren't going to die. Kami-san said your wavelength was cleaning the poison from your body. Thats probably the meditative sound I heard."

"Perhaps..." Mifune mumbled, slowly slipping back into sleep.

The second shift was Blackstar and Tsubaki's watch, and Soul woke his koibito up and then used him as a pillow to sleep.

It was nearly Maka and Kami's turn to keep watch, when Mifune groaned again. "Mifune..." Blackstar's voice was very quiet. There was no trace of a sob, but his tone was enervated.

"Blackstar... angela where is she? I feel her nearby but... I can't figure out where."

"Mifune..." Blackstar hesitated. "You don't remember what happened?"

"I remember that summoner of arachne's attacking us, and then it all goes blank."

"you emerged as a weapon in the middle of the battle. And Angela... she... she died, something, some monster bit her... the poison... Mifune she gave you her soul... thats why you can't find her, she's inside of you..."

"no..." Mifune's already pale face turned a ghastly white, then purple. Mifune drew the emergency blanket up around his neck and weakly tried to pull. He forced his chest to stop moving.

Blackstar couldn't figure out what he was trying to do at first and then when Mifune pressed the blanket over his mouth and nose Blackstar screamed. "MIFUNE NO!" he ran, pulling Mifune's hands back from his throat where he was trying to smother himself. "KIM! HELP!" Blackstar shouted. "Tsubaki! Kursarigama mode, quickly!"

Kim ran in, blinking sleepily and trying to comprehend why Blackstar was using Tsubaki's chain to tie back Mifune's hands. "BLACKSTAR!" she shrieked in rage.

"Mifune tried to smother himself!" Kim quickly realized how frantic Blackstar was. "I told him about Angela and he tried to strangle himself! Please Kim HELP!" Blackstar said helplessly. His eyes were despairing.

"I want to die..." Mifune gasped out. "... I failed my charge, there is no place for me in this world."

"NO!" Blackstar yelled, he wrapped his arms around Mifune's shoulders. "I won't let you! You're my rival, how am I supposed to surpass God if there's nobody waiting above me to be beaten!"

"just let me go... I don't want to live without Angela!" Mifune rasped out feverishly. He started coughing, having strained himself.

Blackstar squeezed his arms tighter around Mifune. "NO! I won't let you!" By now half the camp was awake. Only Kid and Chrona were absent. Kami was watching with a dull look. Blackstar held onto Mifune, refusing to unbind his hands and refusing to let the man go. Blackstar closed his eyes, a dull silver blue light engulfing them as he resonated softly with the newly minted deathscythe Mifune Yojimbo.

Mifune /gasped/ and so did Blackstar. It wasn't sensual, but it was none the less intense. Blackstar focused on Mifune's mind, giving him a place to vent and express his grief in a way he was physically too weak to.

Mifune's mind was very calm, not unlike Tsubaki's, but unlike Tsubaki's mind there was a brooding intensity, an inferno waiting to be unleashed. Thats what Mifune was, a controlled tornado, waiting to be unleashed with highly focused power. His control was incredible. Mifune could have slaughtered Blackstar easily at that base, but he held back, even without Mosquito realizing it.

Mifune mentally chuckled, Blackstar was certainly a handful. Such /energy/ it was like grabbing onto a power line. That youthful passion and enthusiasm was mixed with anguish. Blackstar had actually cared about him and Angela. "Please don't go..." Blackstar pleaded. His tone was quiet, Mifune was still too tired to open his eyes, but he could feel that Blackstar was worried about him, and that he shared his grief over Angela.

And slowly, sooooooooooo slowly, Mifune calmed down, exhaustion overtook the samurai. Blackstar broke off resonance, setting Mifune down. "He... he wanted to die..." Blackstar stared at Mifune's prone body incredulously. "He tried to strangle himself with the emergency blanket, even though he was too weak to do it..."

Soul wrapped his arms around Blackstar, and held his lover tightly. Maka stood at the doorway, looking over at Blackstar as he clung tightly to her weapon. "Its romantic Maka. Believe me, Blackstar's in shock. To him Mifune was a massive mountain to be surmounted." Tsubaki said quietly. "And now, that mountain is not a mountain, but a man. By seeing Mifune vulnerable and feeling his grief, Blackstar doesn't quite see him the same way."

Maka nodded. "it was quite a shock."

"Maka, you wanted to talk to me, why don't we do it over our watch hour?"

"Sure." Maka sighed, Soul slowly fell back asleep, as did Blackstar, and Maka followed the woman she'd been raised to consider her mother out of the cave. They sat quietly in the night and talked. "Dad told me." Maka said quietly.

"Yes. Are you angry?"

"A little... I understand why you did it... its just... i'm having trouble adapting to it. I still think of you as mother and Stein as hakase and Spirit as the idiot papa who cheated on my mother. But if your marriage was just a cover, it technically means he wasn't really cheating. But... somehow thinking that doesn't erase the /anger./" Maka gritted her teeth. "It /pisses/ me off."

"I understand Maka." Kami hugged her. "You can still talk to me about girl stuff. Or if you just need a listening ear. You know I learned a lesson from Stein and Spirit, that family /isn't/ blood, it isn't physical, its spiritual, its an emotion. And you still feel like family, even if we aren't related."

Maka nodded, then gulped, tears coming to her eyes as she hugged Kami tightly. The deathscythe meister smiled, wrapping her arms around the girl she'd come to think of as "daughter." Really, she didn't bear very much resemblance to Stein at all. But she /did/ have Spirit's eyes. "And you know, Shinigami-sama helped protect the three of us during this whole affair. If you want to talk to him a little you can too."

Maka nodded. "I don't feel like I can talk to Spirit about anything. He's such an /idiot/ I can't really relate to him, but Stein is so WEIRD I can't talk to him /either./"

Kami chuckled. "You should have seen the three of us when we were still in school." Kami chuckled. "oh god we were stupid. Even me, and I was at the top of my class."

Maka chuckled a bit. Their watch was something comfortable. And when she went to sleep, Maka dreamed. She was sitting in an enormous sunlit library, and at the far end was the only other occupant. She was a white haired old woman with luminous pale green eyes and an almost tired look on her face. She was seated at a large round table sipping tea, and didn't seem to notice Maka.

She wasn't the only one who's dreams were haunted either. Kid had fallen asleep with Chrona in his arms and fireflies floating around, and he was dreaming, Eibon kept trying to use his dreams to tell him something. But he couldn't hear. And there was a light, pale blue, glowing in his abdomen. The light confused him, for Eibon seemed either to not be able to see it or to be ignoring it. In the end, Eibon held up a cube shaped object, which glowed, and he sat up sweating profusely, Chrona slipping slightly where the pinkette was cradled in his arms. "Kid..." Kilik said with a yawn. "its your watch, dawns in about three hours."

Kid nodded, "Help me get chrona closer to the fire. I don't want to wake him up."

Kilik yawned hugely. "sure..." the two of them manuvered the pink haired meister to the fire, and Kid sat there, cradling Chrona in his arms. The pinkette yawned cutely in his sleep. "granny, I couldn't eat another bite..." he mumbled in his sleep.

Kid chuckled, and settled down for a comfortable last watch of the night.

* * *

1. This habit of Kim's was only seen in "Soul Eater Not" in which Kim would charge outrageous fees to people for their entire week's living stipend and then Ox would try to earn the money back for whomever she charged. Kim's coldness and her habit of charging fees earned her the ironic nickname "the witch of the girl's dorms" though this was more for her attitude than her witch's soul at the time.

2. A singing bowl is an instrument from Tibet used for meditation, its a bowl, with a wooden stick, and you run the stick around the bowl's edge. It makes a ringing sound, very eerie. you can find them on youtube by searching "Tibetan singing bowl."


	8. Chapter 8

That night, faaaaaaaaaar away, Justin was curled up in a cave in the Rocky mountains. Searching for the Kisshin had yielded a wonderful sight, and a wonderful night as well. Justin had found a cave decorated with native american drawings of Shinigami-sama in the old days. The paintings seemed to tell the story of Eibon's death and Asura's sealing. So Justin had remained in the shadow of such a wonder to take in the history of his blessed God Shinigami-sama.

And then Giriko had shown up. And a good night had turned even better.

Shinigami-sama didn't /entirely/ approve of Justin having a relationship with a rogue weapon. There were two reasons that Shinigami had made an exception for Justin and Giriko. 1. Giriko had gotten the way he did by possessing his descendants rather than outright eating souls. But when he took a new body, his soul tended to absorb that of the body he inhabited after awhile. This process would actually make it hundreds of years more until Giriko turned into a Kisshin's egg. Justin was told to redeem Giriko if it were possible. 2. Justin and Giriko had known each other /before/ Justin joined Shibusen.

But Shinigami-sama had a few conditions. Justin could not talk about Shibusen business, and his access to classified information was /extremely/ restricted to minimize any danger of information leaking out through him. Justin was not allowed to bring Giriko into the city. Justin had to keep his relationship with Giriko as quiet as possible. And Justin could not go near Arachne or Arachnephobia or visit Giriko /on/ Arachnephobia property. They had to meet in places that neither Shibusen nor Arachnephobia was in control of. Such as... oh, a secluded cave in a forest.

Giriko had put together a love nest for them in one of the caves in a cliff in Yellowstone National Park. Complete with a campfire, a mattress of cedar branches, roasting fish, and a large toasty sleepingbag. Giriko had even brought an aphrodesiac incense, which they lit while they ate supper.

By the time the last fish was eaten, Justin was seriously in the mood. He climbed into Giriko's lap and smirked, pulling the chainsaw down to kiss him.

One time, Giriko had apologized that the only places they could really see each other in peace were the forests and ancient ruins and other places they often ended up investigating for their respective employers. But Justin had replied that when he was in the wild places, like Yellowstone, he felt far closer to the divine than he did in the city.

And as the Aphrodesiac kicked in, Justin could forget the chaos and anguish of the world and forget wars and sides, and just have...

… even as his body melted with Giriko's and Justin forgot the anguish of the world around him he remembered.

-Flashback-

He was talking with Spirit Sempai about school, trying to skirt around that he'd been sneaking off to see Giriko in secret. When suddenly Justin didn't feel quite right, his stomach tied in knots and he doubled over in pain. Blood was leaking from his rear end. His head was swimming. "JUSTIN!" Spirit caught him.

When Justin woke up he was in the hospital, Shinigami-sama was sitting next to his bedside. "sir..."

"Are you quite alright Justin?"

"Yes sir, though i'm a bit confused as to what happened."

Lord Death sighed. "This isn't a conversation I wanted to have, or ever enjoy having."

"I knew it, I'm sick aren't I?"

"No, you have a very rare mutation among male weapons, have you been seeing anybody?"

"my boyfriend from before I attended Shibusen why?" Justin asked. "Is that somehow important my Lord?"

Death just sighed and scratched his head like he was uncomfortable. "Justin, you have a rare mutation that allows you to bear children like a woman does. You miscarried. It was very early but since people who have that mutation don't bleed unless they've miscarried..." He trailed off pityingly when he saw Justin's expression.

Justin blinked, eyes tearing up. His jaw dropped open in shock. "This is... some kind of trick isn't it? My parents kicked me out because I liked men. They said I was spilling my seed where it couldn't make a baby and that it was wrong and..."

"No Justin, its not a trick." Shinigami had been made aware that there was some domestic violence in Justin's household before he joined them. Hell, Justin hadn't always been a pious priest. When he joined Shibusen Justin was a right hellion. Lord Death had, eventually straightened out the teenager to turn him into the pious priest that everyone knew today. But back then, Justin was a hurt teenager who took his rage out on the Kisshin's eggs and did his durndest to try to make mischief.

Justin started to cry, partially from relief, partially from shock.

"Who was the father? Should I call him?"

"Uh... um... he's a chainsaw from the czech republic. I knew him back before I joined Shibusen. But sir, he's an unsavory sort. He's not the kind of person who should be in the city limits."

"Is that so. I'll have Sid take a discrete message to him updating him on your condition. The man knows how to keep his silence, though you and I will have to have a bit of a talk." Shinigami-sama sighed. "Rest Justin, you're looking at at least two weeks in bed and a third week off duty, plus a psychological examination to make sure you're handling the miscarriage alright." The reaper stood.

"I'm not in trouble am I?"

"No. Though I suggest you be discrete. If he's as unsavory as you say. I'll set down ground rules for you seeing him. And when you're back on duty, I expect you to work out. If you're dating a rogue, I want you in /shape/."

"You think he'll turn on me don't you?"

"its always a possibility. And I think you should question why he hasn't. Don't stop seeing him, just be on your guard." Death sighed and turned, walking out the door.

And that was it, Shinigami-sama set down the rules under which Justin could continue to see Giriko, and sent a message to the rogue chainsaw that if he saw him in the vicinity of Death city or if Justin ended up dead, he'd have Giriko actively hunted by Shibusen, brought back, and Shinigami himself would deal the killing blow.

~end flashback~

Since then, Justin had wanted /so/ badly to have a baby. He'd put away a little bit of his pay every check he got, preparing for the day when he'd get to be a father. But Justin had miscarried 5 times since that first time, with six seperate miscarriages, Justin started to wonder if there was something wrong with him. He'd tried fertility drugs, but it was like his system couldn't hold onto the baby. More than once, he'd ended up crying into Spirit's shirt, the older Deathscythe sympathy crying along with him.

Justin moaned as Giriko slid inside of him, kissing the chainsaw passionately. "Hey, I read something new."

"You read?"

"I don't mind reading about Sex." Giriko snickered, he slid one of the pillows they'd brought under Justin's hips, then carefully pushed the priest's legs back into the crab position. "I read that you're more likely to concieve if I put a pillow under your hips, and then push your legs back like this..." Giriko grinned hugely, shark like teeth showing. "heh, besides, I'm quite satisfied with tryin ter make a brat of our own." (1)

"you sound like being a father is a /bad/ thing."

"I /been/ a father hon, tons of times." Giriko kissed Justin passionately on the lips. "you're forgetting how I ended up this way. But this matters to /you./" Giriko purred, starting to thrust. Justin /moaned./ "So I'll go with it. Besides, I know how to handle myself, do you?"

Justin chuckled, the chuckle giving way to a scream of pleasure, bucking into Giriko's thrust and screaming his lover's name.

~the next morning~

The small water plane landed on the lake outside of the campsite, and four Shibusen EMTs ran out to meet Kami, who was carrying Mifune wrapped up in her arms. "he's got a fever of approximately a hundred and two, bacterial envenomation, his body is healing itself. Put him on suicide watch and notify Shinigami-sama that there's been an incident involving the Witch's Blessing. Use that /exact/ phrase." Kami told them.

"Hai Kami-sama!" The four EMTs saluted Kami, and took Mifune into the water plane. A few minutes later it lifted up and away.

Kami turned. "Okay kids, we're hiking out. Where's Kid?"

"Kiddo-kun?" Chrona found Kid in the rushes on the lake shore, vomiting into the water. "Are you okay? I don't know how to deal with this..."

"Chrona there's some excedrin in my bag. My head feels like its going to split open." Kid moaned. (2) Chrona got the medicine obediently from Kid's backpack and brought it to him. Kid downed two and drank as much of his canteen as he could.

Shinigami-sama was late getting to the mirror to check on his son, so he missed Kid throwing up. He did, however, see the two of them holding hands.

Kami chuckled as she watched Soul and Blackstar helped to break camp. "Remember, we brought it out, we need to bring it back in with us." She told them as she doused the fire. "ladies and gentlemen, most survival situations resolve themselves within three days. At any given time, you should be ready for three days to a week deprived of help. We've managed one night. Congratulations. It gets tougher the next time."

Soul nodded, still not quite awake. Kim was busy pouring a last minute cup of peppermint tea for everyone. Blackstar downed his in about three gulps and started doing some stretches. Soul drank his more slowly, but finished quickly. Kid was looking a bit pale, and he quickly drank his cup once Kim told him peppermint tea could help his stomach. It took about ten minutes for everyone to finish. The last embers of the fire had gone out after Kami doused them. The Deathscythe meister poked the fire, checking to make sure the last embers were gone. Kim attached her teakettle and cups to her bag and followed the others. (3)

It was a slow, silent hike back. About halfway back Chrona slipped on a rock and injured his leg for real. So Kid had to hold the limb still while Kim and Maka applied a splint. Chrona was whimpering "I don't know how to deal with this!"

"What? The pain you wimp?" Ragnarok demanded.

"Nuuuuuuuuuu, the fussing! Maka-chan and Kim-chan are fixing my leg and Kiddo-kun is fussing!" Chrona squeaked, blushing furiously.

Kami watched with a small smile. "So thats Medusa's boy hmm?" she asked. "Poor kid, I feel sorry for him. That family, buncha psychos every last one of them." She kept watch from a distance while they fixed Chrona's leg. Then the group limped slowly up the slope.

* * *

Kid fell asleep on the way back. And he found himself sitting in front of a hut in what he realized was a desert scrub land. Sitting in front of the hut on a woven reed mat was a man in an outfit Kid recognized as a hindi guru. He was elderly, with beautiful golden eyes much like his own. "They say that we choose our parents before we are even born. I wonder." The man's skin began to turn blue, suddenly sprouting an extra set of hands. "I wonder... Kiddo-kun, what has made you choose Shinigami-sama? And what will make your children choose you?"

Kid sat up in a cold sweat. They were in the chopper heading back to Death City, almost home too, nearly to the helipad. When he looked out the window, Kid saw the clouds change briefly into four shapes, surrounding the city at the north, south, east and west, just as they were arranged in the watchtower's shrine. A tiger, a chinese dragon, a turtle, and a phoenix. "Isn't it beautiful?" Kid turned, sitting in Patti's place in the chopper was a man with a jackel's head, an image that Kid remembered /very/ well. "The Watchtowers are accommodating aren't they?" Kid shrieked. "yes, you are still dreaming. Rest, Death the Kid, I will not harm you." Anubis disappeared, and Kid sat up straight with a shriek.

Soul arched a brow at him inquiringly as the helicopter began to descend. "Double dream." Kid explained.

* * *

Shinigami-sama heard a voice behind him as he stood on the highest balcony of the castle. "Its happening, isn't it Shinigami-sama?"

Lord Death stood silent. But the Shade knew that the Reaper had heard.

Eibon was standing behind him on the balcony, faint and transparent. "The quickening has begun. Soon the birth of a new God will bless Death City. The Deities are already gathering around the boy."

"Will Kid be alright on the other side?"

"Yes. But things will change. They always do koibito." Eibon's arms wrapped around Shinigami's waist. "I love you..."

"I know... I love you too. I wish we could have been together longer Eibon. Why'd you have to go?"

"Didn't you tell me long ago? To everything there is a season, and a time for every purpose under heaven. It is a time to be born, and a time to gather stones..." (4)

"I thought I had more time."

The wizard chuckled. "It is not yet a time to die. Rejoice, you will see the work you have dedicated so much of yourself for come to fruition. I and Michelle will not have died in vain. And Asura will not have gone into the darkness for nothing."

"And the world will be right again. I'd gotten used to the sun having a face." Death chuckled. "I don't get how the moon still gave us tides when it was stuck into the crescent shape and dripping blood."

"I suppose many of your students will think the world is ending." Eibon mused. "Little do they know, it is returning to the way it is supposed to be."

"And Kid will bridge the gap."

"or his child. The gods aren't sure yet which it is. It could very well be your grandson or granddaughter and not Kid. But we will see."

"Strega was such an ornary woman."

"Yes, but it is not from her, or any of her kin, that the witches will return to our side. Michelle's White Rebellion is about to be rekindled. Mabaa's days on this earth are numbered, as are Asura's, Medusa's and Arachne's."

"What about Shauna, she's not part of this is she?" (5)

"Unclear." Eibon replied. "She was just a baby when the rebellion happened, wheras Medusa was a budding 8 year old psychopath who killed grown men in cold blood and then laughed." (6)

"She's addicted to killing. Its too bad we didn't know about psychiatry back then. We could have caught her /and/ Asura before they turned into the monsters they did. Even Mabaa fears Medusa. She indulges her out of that fear."

"Sociopaths and Psychopaths cannot be fixed my love. Speaking of Witches, there is one at Shibusen who carries the Green Gift."

"WHAT?" Shinigami-sama turned.

"Medusa will attempt to drive her from these halls. Do not allow it." Eibon vanished.

"Shinigami-sama!" Spirit was shaking him gently. "We have a problem."

"What is it?"

"We got an anonymous tip..."

"A tip?"

"Saying that Kim Dheil is a witch."

"I see. I want her watched, and start an investigation into her background."

"Who should I send?"

"Sid, Nygus, Azusa... hmm... send Kid in with them but make sure he knows this mission is a top secret investigation.

* * *

Kim sighed, as she entered the girl's dorm, unhooking the antique tea kettle with a tanuki on the side. The sides of the tea kettle were decorated with oak, holly and ginko leaves. (7) The tanukis on the side each had an oak and a holly leaf in their mouths.

"Kim-chan?"

Tsugumi, the young Halberd in love with love and stuck choosing between two Meisters, was peering at her around the doorframe. "There's a package on your bed. It came while you were gone. Its got chinese lettering on it."

"Its from a chinese apothecary." Kim said to Tsugumi with a smile. "Thank you for telling me, now I don't have to charge you a fee."

"pretty tea kettle." Tsugumi blinked up at the kettle. "Tanukis are so cute and fluffy."

Kim started to sweat a little on the inside. "no kidding, you like Tanuki stories?"

"Uhuh... but why is it carrying oak and holly leaves in its mouth? Japan doesn't have oak or holly."

"eeeh, I'm not sure, it was my grandmother's." Kim replied. "Look, I'm tired okay, we just had a very long trip for our survival class."

"Yeah, sorry to bother you." Tsugumi turned to leave, only for a dopey Meme to attach to her, and Anya then flounced into the room, glancing suspiciously at Kim out of the corner of her eye. Kim sighed, taking the tea kettle with her and hurrying to hers and Jaqueline's dorm room.

"Hey, I thought you kept that in the kitchen?" Jaqueline asked.

Kim sighed, prying up a board in the floor. Inside was magical paraphenalia, items that would /surely/ get her expelled if they were found. A mask with green oak and holly leaves around it, and a second wooden carving depicting Eibon's mask had been placed lovingly on top of the pile of witch's tools. The cache included, two large grimoires full of healing spells, several books on Chinese herbal medicine, reiki and acupuncture, a magic mirror, and several trinkets depicting Tanukis. Kim opened the package. Inside were not only chinese, but native american healing herbs. Sage bundles, incense, sweet grass, lavender oils, several medicine balls. The healing items were not illegal. Many women at Shibusen in ages past had explored homeopathic remedy and holistic healing, after all Shibusen taught the importance of a healthy mind as being key to a healthy soul.

Kim had burned her garbe long ago, keeping a spare robe at the Witch's temple. Her expression was filled with shame as she dropped the tea kettle in and closed up the bolt hole, before moving a rather ordinary looking rug over it.

Jaqueline sighed, pulling her Meister into her arms. "its for the best. When I pledged myself as your weapon, I accepted all of you, your Soul included."

Kim cried, resonating softly with the lantern who gave her so much comfort with her light. Jaqueline stroked her Meister's hair. "I'm so lonely Jaqueline."

"you aren't alone Kim, you have me. I'm your weapon, I will NEVER leave your side."

"Why do I have to be cursed like this? /THEY/ don't want me, and while i'm mildly happy here, I can't tell anyone. Or everyone I considered my friends will turn against me."

Kim fell asleep in the middle of the day in Jaqueline's grip, and when she dreamed, she was standing in a leafy forest near mount fuji, cherry blossoms floating over her. An ancient Buddhist monk, withered and weathered by the seasons, sat there, drinking tea brewed in her Tanuki teapot. "Trust in Shinigami-sama." The monk said quietly. "You will not have to hide much longer. Cast away your garbe, soon your soul protect will follow." Kim blinked, the man had a tanuki tail sticking out of his backside, swishing on the ground behind him.

Kim had been visited by this strange monk since she was a very small girl, her mother had smiled, telling her this old man was a spirit guide. Despite the fact that he was supposed to be a source of guidance, Kim was still wary of him. "I don't understand."

"you are not like the witches who Shibusen fights, Shinigami-sama will know this, if you show him your tea kettle. You are different Kim, you have a purpose among the witches. This is why Mabaa made you to suffer. She does not wish the purpose for which you were born a witch to be carried out. By treating you cruelly, she hoped to keep you so depressed, you would never bring about her downfall."

"What do I do?"

"Get stronger, and target the Head Witch directly if the opportunity presents itself. She will fold from her fear. For in you, and in the children of Shinigami, she has seen and named the ones who will destroy her. This was done long ago. Help the young reaper to find his Spirit Guide, for it is waiting for him."

"wait a minute, Kid's a reaper! he doesn't have an animal sign. He wouldn't unless he has a witch's blood as well as Shinigami-sama's!"

"Kid's mother was Stella, daughter of Strega. You can trace his mother to the Cave of Signs. The boy is precious, and soon he will need guidance! Eibon can only come to him for so long. You must protect him, he is the key to stopping Mabaa once and for all. He is the key for putting right an ages old wrong and bringing light into the Dark Times. He has the integrity of a Bushido Samurai, and the Soul both of a Wizard and a Reaper."

The Cave of Signs, where every Witch in the area's name was carved upon their death. It was created in Choco Canyon by Michelle the White long ago. Because when a witch was killed, her body vanished and her soul remained, there was nothing to bury when one died. But the Cave of Signs, and other places like it, acted as Graves, preserving the names and Animal Signs of witches from many generations past. In it, any Witch currently alive today who's ancestors were from the area, could find her ancestors. "Alright, I'll leave tonight." it would be /extremely/ easy for her to fly to Choco Canyon.

"Do not tell anyone where you are going, or with whom. If Kid is found, Mabaa will kill him."

"I understand." Kim replied, eyes slowly floating open. "We need to go somewhere tonight Jaqueline, I'll make us a dinner on the go, can you find us a Kisshin's egg mission near the Anasazi ruins in Choco Canyon?"

"Yeah, I'll see what I can do, there was a whole crop of local missions up just before we left." Jaqueline rose. "Are you sure you're alright?"

"My spirit guide told me to look for something in the canyon."

* * *

"Follow Kim?" Kid asked his father.

"yes. The tip said that Kim was a witch. Do not approach her, or attack her, we have no proof yet. I want you to follow her for the next couple of days, and see if you can get closer to her."

"i'm not a child, I can handle a witch."

"We aren't even /sure./" Shinigami told his son. "There have been false tips about students being witches before. And if we do not investigate such tips before we act upon them, we run the risk of unjustly imprisoning or killing a student."

"Understood Chichue..." And thus began Kid's strange night time adventure.

* * *

1. The crab position is supposed to be better for conception than the missionary. As for the pillow bit, a long time ago my baby sitter wanted to get pregnant, but was having fertility problems. I don't know if the pillow worked for her, but thats what her fertility doctor told her to do. Propping the hips up lets the semen drain into the womb faster. Still, the odds are against poor Justin even concieving on any given night. The immune system of a woman usually kills most of the sperm before they can even reach the womb. Just a little known fact.

2. Not a wise move on Kid's part. Excedrin works on headaches and many other nerve related pains because it opens up restricted capillaries and increases bloodflow. But the ingredients responsible for this are caffine and asprin, two things a pregnant woman should /never/ use. The other medicine in excedrin is acetominophen, which is sold under several names. Actetominophen acts on a different mechanism. When your muscles are tired, overworked, or otherwise strained, they give off an enzyme that causes pain and muscle constrictions. Acetominophen blocks this enzyme, keeping the muscles from cramping.

3. The reason why Kim has so much tea and an old fashioned tea kettle strapped to her pack is because of a legend about a Tanuki and an old junk dealer called Bunbuku Chagama the tanuki and the tea kettle is one of my favorite children's stories from Japan. So I snuck a reference in there in Kim's survival gear. So throughout chapters involving their survival classes, Kim will be serving quite a bit of herbal tea.

4. Ecclesiastes, I think it was 3rd century. There's a famous hippie song using this scripture. "To everything turn, turn turn, there is a season turn turn turn." The verse is about knowing when is the write time for things.

5. Shauna, i think thats her name, is the principle villain in Soul eater NOT. She is the youngest of the three Gorgon Sisters.

6. Medusa shows a lot of the signs of a sociopath/psychopath. Including being able to mimic normal human behavior, complete disregard for others and for rules, zero empathy, killing small animals. oh yeah, Okubo knew his serial killer lore alright when he created her.


	9. Chapter 9

Right as predicted, Maka, Soul, Blackstar and Tsubaki were waiting for the white witch as planned. There was a soft knock on the door of Maka's apartment. Blair squeaked and ran over to the door eagerly as Maka opened it. A witch dressed in a white miko's uniform and hooded cloak modeled after a white tiger with jade green stripes stood in the door. "I am Kali, servant of the Watchtower of the Air." She frowned, turning pale, pupiless green eyes on them one by one, she addressed them each with an airy, almost sleepy tone. "I see, Maka, daughter of Spirit Albarn, deathscythe, spiritual daughter of Kami, biological da..."

"HUSH!" Maka hissed, covering the young witch's mouth as Tsubaki and Blackstar came to the door behind her and soul.

"Forgive me, clearly I was about to address a touchy subject. Keep silent, the four of you, until we have left the city. Carry no lights, nor any electronic devices. You may bring a knife, and water is advised. Sleeping arrangements have already been made. You are about to enter a rare ritual for Students of Shibusen. NOT and EAT alike have both undergone it in the past, but not everyone who attends goes through it. Unless you decide to share what you experience, what you experience here is private."

Maka looked at her shoes, then over at Tsubaki. She didn't want to talk to Tsubaki about this until she'd emotionally gotten a handle on it. She sighed, shouldering her pack from her survival class, with the trash being the only thing she threw out. The four of them had changed into sweatpants and a t-shirt. Tsubaki had a fleece on over her t-shirt. And the group of them had their Ids on them in their bags.

The four of them headed out, following the white cloaked witch down the streets and out of the city.

* * *

On the other side of the city, Kim was moving swiftly and quietly through the streets. Kid hovered behind her on Beelzebub, keeping his distance and striking a leisurely cruise out of town.

Kim moved swiftly and silently, using one of the student transports rather than a broom. The shuttles were used to move students heading to extracurricular lessons that were in the local area. They were /extremely/ fast. Using top of the line technology, and almost futuristic speeds, these small vehicles were driven by a single operator with the meister and weapon riding in back. They couldn't go very far, but one of them could reach the Mexico boarder on one tank of gas and the solar panel charged batteries on the back hatch and do it in six hours. Left to charge in an open topped garage full of reflectors, the taxi service was extremely economical.

Choco canyon was reached by ten pm that night, with three motel rooms waiting for them. Kid felt naked without Liz and Patti by his side as he floated along some distance behind them. Especially given that Kim was a suspected Witch and he'd had all but 3 sessions of survival training if this went south and Kim injured him. Kim stopped outside the anasazi ruins, and moved quickly into the cave system beyond.

Kim and Jaqueline made camp on the ledge outside the entrance to the cave of signs. Kim was pouring over a book used to teach Shibusen students about witch customs that featured the site as an example of funerary customs. "According to the guidebook, there's four thousand names in here, written in magic script and arranged into bloodlines."

As Kid picked through the ruins, he ran into a ghost. Not unusual, he was a shinigami after all, he had to handle ghosts quite frequently. Unlike Kisshins, ghosts were simply souls that hadn't crossed over after death. While they could cause damage, missions to cross over ghosts were more seen as missions of mercy than Kisshin missions were. This ghost was a native american shaman, his clothing marking him as ancient Hopi. "You, you are the child of a Kachina..." the elderly shaman peered at Kid from where he had been meditating. "... it has been eight hundred years since a Kachina last graced these walls. I was a young boy then."

"I believe you are referring to my father."

"Perhaps, his hair was like yours, though the war paint in his hair went all the way around his head." The shaman mused. Kid's eyes watered as he resisted the urge to break down about the lack of Symmetry in his hair. "These ruins were the site of a great battle long ago. In this canyon, the Kachina of Crossing fought with a Demon of Fear. The battle shook the canyon. It was fought over a holy blade. And in the end the Kachina skinned the demon alive, and made a bag of his skin which he took north of here. My people left soon after, they believed evil spirits had followed the Great Demon into the canyon, and that the Kachina could not protect them."

"You are most certainly referring to my father." Kid replied. "I have seen the 'Great Demon' of which you speak, he is awake from his slumber."

"yes, I know. I felt his presence from very far away." the Shaman replied. "On that night, a red star shone in the sky. It was an omen. But last night there was a good omen as well." The old man pointed to the sky. A bright blue star shone in the sky, clearly visible from his vantage point. "This, is the blue star, a new Kachina will be born soon."

"Come again?" Kid blinked.

"A long time ago, a prophecy was spoken of. When the time of shaking begins, a Kachina of the blue star will be born, and come among us to dance in the pueblos. Those naturally fearful of heart will fall over dead, and those possessed of bravery will join in the dance. The world will shake mightily, the fourth world will transform into the fifth. It is a good sign. While many will die, heroes will be born, and the peoples of the earth will grow." The man said quietly. "You should be cautious in these ruins. They say the land has memories of what happened here. When the stars align in the right pattern, the battle between the Kachina of Crossing and the Great Demon is replayed by the Soul of the Earth."

"You said the battle was fought over a holy blade, do you know who this blade is?"

"her name was Curtana, the sword of heaven's water. The Great Demon could have escaped, but he coveted the soul of the water blade above all others. They say Curtana was the blade first of the Great Wizard, then of the Last White Witch. When the Great Demon discovered her location, he hurried to the spot to consume such a powerful sword. But the Kachina of Crossing pursued him there. Despite not having seen the heaven sword for two decades, he knew her again. If the Great Demon had not coveted the Heavens Sword, then he would still walk upon this earth." The Shamen explained.

"So my father only found Asura because he was chasing after a weapon." Kid mused. "Thank you."

"We deserve to be in touch with our heritage. It is why I remain on this earth young Kachina. I remain behind to tell the story of my people to my grand children, to teach them the languages now denied them by their conquerers from the east. To provide guidance." The ghost paused, looking at Kid curiously for a moment. His eyes glowed briefly, and Kid realized this shaman could use soul perception. "Your own world is beginning to shake young Kachina. I sense a powerful light gathering within your soul. Your own Blue Star is on its way." The shaman's form began to dissolve away.

Kid called out. "Wait!" But the ghost disappeared. Behind him, Kid found a carving that verified the ghost's statement. Carvings of his father and Asura, carved in the rock in the style of the ancient indians. Kid lifted his light to the grooves in the rock. Just as the ghost had told him, the painting depicted his father fighting with the Kisshin. Quivering in a terrified ball behind him was a woman with long hair dressed in a twelfth century celtic style of dress. A familiar small white figure clung to her side. And Kid's face twitched at the native americans depiction of Excalibur. The woman and the holy sword cowered behind the battle while Death, wielding a scythe, was shown as he was in the old days. The carvings depicted Death skinning Asura to create the bag and then... Kid's breath inhaled.

The image showed a group of Witches with stars on their foreheads escorting the bag towards a horizon marked with the little dipper, polaris, showing the direction they'd gone in, north. Weapons and native american braves marched with them, dressed in the clothing of mourners of the era. Shinigami-sama walked with the woman at his side, the woman was weeping, carrying Eibon's mask in her hand and leaning on the Grim reaper for comfort. Even Death was shown with a tear flowing down his mask and looking very tired.

The carvings went on, showing the construction of Asura's temple, the same mixed group of Weapons, Native american meisters and shamen, and witches dressed in flowing clothing and shown with stars on their foreheads were building the temple and erecting the city over it. Finally, when they reached a certain point, the carvings showed Death moving into the shrine, down the now underground passages.

Four witches dressed in ceremonial costumes, seeming to fuse Japanese and Native american designs to them, acompanied his father down to the chamber. Kid's heart began to race, as he followed the cliffside mural to its conclusion. The four witches in animal costumes took Shinigami-sama into the shrine. He lay on the stone and each one took one of the watchtowers in their hands and knelt over him. Performing the final seal to tie his father's soul to the land around death city.

The side effect of the ritual seemed to be that the watchtowers be permanently resonating with the earth. But Kid couldn't tell for sure. The mural showed the four swords being carried by the priestess witches to another cave, using the constellations to indicate they were traveling south. It also showed the four swords and the witches who tended them entering the shrine, where the swords lay to this day.

It was then that, broken out of his reverie, Kid realized he had surveillance to do anyway. He floated up to the ledge that Kim and Jaqueline were on and sighed. "So this spirit guide told you to come here?"

"yeah, the guidebook says this place is a sacred site both to Shibusen /and/ the witches. See?" they were pouring over a book. "In 1866 Shibusen brokered a treaty with fourteen local witches covens, wherein both sides agreed to designate choco canyon sacred land and not attack each other upon it. This was a unique treaty among Shibusen's history, as its one of the few times any sort of truce had been reached on any matter. The truce was extended in that Shibusen agreed not to damage Witch related funerary sites within 500 miles of death city." Kim was reading from a book in the library.

"Yes, but how do you know that they even /list/ Kid's mother here? And what the hell are you going to say to him?"

"/I/ can't say anything." Kim sighed. "Lets just get this over with." She stood, lifting Jacqueline and turning into the cave. "I just hope I don't catch any flack for coming in here."

"its basically a shrine right? If anyone asks just tell them you were doing research for when we get our witch's soul. Thats what that book was made for, to help Shibusen students understand their enemy. Nobody's going to blame us for wanting to investigate ruins the Witches left behind."

"Still, I'm kinda creeped out, this is basically a witch's graveyard we're going into." they disappeared into the cave, Kid hesitated.

"A witch's graveyard?" Kid peered at the walls once they were gone, lifting his flash light. "oh wow." The walls were covered in Magic writing. It looked to Kid like names.

"Yeah." Kim's hand came down on Kid's shoulder. "Caught you!"

Kid jumped. "yeah you made me, I was curious as to why you and Jaqueline were sneaking out of the city in the middle of the night."

"A kisshin's egg sighted in choco canyon." Kim replied. "And we figured on the way there we'd check this cave out. You can come in with us if you want." She sighed. "This cave is a witch graveyard. They carve the names and animals of their dead in the cave walls. Since they don't leave any bodies behind when they die, only souls, which we usually end up taking, they simply use names and images here. They're organized into family trees. You can find any witch in western north america who's dead in these caves. As well as coded listings for their living relatives. We have a treaty with them not to attack mourners visiting the site or engage in battle in the canyon."

Kid nodded. "What are you looking for." Kid was tempted to try to find his mother here. But... how could he? He couldn't read magi script! He'd need a translator from the computer department. And he didn't have one on him just then, plus, they were in very high demand with the three star meisters and deathscythe meisters who usually handled Witch cases. He'd come back later, get one from his father so that his name wouldn't come up on the list of people who borrowed one.

Jaqueline's mental facepalm reached Kid. But Kim sighed. "i'm trying to find a witch in particular in the entries here." Kim replied. "Problem is, I can't read magi script." total lie. "I have a translator with me." Kim pulled out a small device and an iPad. "You attach this to the wall, it uses sonar to pick up the writing and inscriptions and uses an ipad app to translate that into english." Kim sighed, pulling out the translator and clipping it to the wall. "and noooooowww... we wait. It should take a few minutes. I'm going to have a look around." Kim handed Kid the iPad and pointed to the translator. "keep an eye on it and call me when all three lights on the unit turn green.

Kid nodded. Kim headed off into the caves. She started searching them, just a cursory search. And then she found something that caught her eye.

She read softly. "here is recorded the name Stella Romany, traitor to her people, devotee of Anubis and Ma'at. May she be condemned to the underworld with the Shiftless Dead." Kim closed her eyes, reaching inside of her for her spirit animal. She placed her hand over the inscription, and thats when she saw where something had been chipped off the family tree listed for Romany.

"It looks like there was a raised skull inscribed here, and it was removed." Jaqueline commented.

Kim bowed her head. "Rest in peace, Stella Romany, you are condemned only by your killers, and revered and missed by your survivors. This skull piece is about the size of a certain stone ornament around Kid's neck." Kim frowned, calling out. "OYE! Kid, come over here quickly, bring that tie clasp of yours or whatever it is."

"My tie?" Kid ran down the passage.

Kim beckoned Kid over to the inscription. "Is it done?"

"Yes."

"Good, hold the camera on the ipad up to this inscription here."

"um... okay..." Kid raised the ipad's camera to the inscription. He gasped, as the translation appeared on the iPad.

**Here is recorded the name Stella Romany, traitor to her people, devotee of Anubis and Ma'at. May she be condemned to the underworld with the Shiftless Dead. **Kid gasped, falling over on his butt. Kid didn't know what the "shiftless dead" were but it sounded to him like the Witches were wishing his mother condemned to Hell. And Hell was not a place you condemned someone lightly.

"Kid, there's a piece here thats been removed. The clasp around your neck, it looks like it fits it."

Kid scrambled back against the wall.

Kim's expression was neutral. "Kid, I'll keep this a secret, but I need to see that pendant around your neck."

Kid gulped, eyes wide with shock. But he nodded, pulling the tie clip from his neck. He pressed the skull to the rock.

The eyes from the skull symbol glowed. A projection appeared from it, a woman dressed in a soft black gown. She had a plate armor chest plate around her chest, and the shoulder pieces of it were jackel skull heads similar to the mask his father wore. A hood shaped like a jackel's head hung from the back of her head. She carried the shepherd's crook in one hand, and a sword shaped like an ankh in another.

(1) "Hello Kid, if you're getting this it means you've come to the cave of names." Kid recognized her from his dreams, this was his mother. But he'd never seen her armor or armaments before. "And it also means that I have died. I wanted so badly to live and tell you this myself. But I am a devotee of Anubis, and I know from the path I chose that Life only flows in one direction, and Fate cannot be cheated or denied."

Tears started to stream down Kid's face. Kim got to her knees and bowed her head, hands clasped in prayer. "I am Stella Romany, heir to a fine old blood, Eibon's Legacy flows through my veins, and yours Kid."

"This world, the sun and moon are not supposed to have faces. Nor are half the things here the way they are supposed to be. Your father, Eibon, and Asura tried to stop this outcome from happening. But Asura lost himself to the madness, Eibon was murdered brutally for his life's work, and your father, well, you know what happened to him."

"But you my son, have the ability to put all of this right. You possess both a Reaper's blood and Magical Blood."

"Mabaa may have killed me, but she did not extinguish my knowledge. If you can find places where this stone broach will fit, then you can unlock some of my Magic gear and the armor that served as my garbe."

"Passing on your blood line will be critical, find someone you truly love, and never let them go. Then find the places I hid my power, get Eibon's book and his Brew, and defeat Mabaa. By bringing the light represented by the White and Green Order's power back to this world, you will make the Kisshins weaker, the madness less pernicious, and the Witches will not be as violent."

"But when you face her, face the Head Witch with a heart full of love. If your heart is full of hatred when you slay her, then the darkness will take you too. The Gods do not forgive sinners, so you should look upon them with pity, and struggle to find the place of forgiveness. This whole MESS, even Asura, is because Mabaa, when she was young, wanted to protect her people from the Vatican and their persecution and preserve the ancient cultures they were wiping out and denouncing as heresy. And yet she sank into the depths of evil. The best of intentions, can still pave the road to hell."

"The first piece of my gear is in the King's Chamber in the Pyramid of Isis. Farewell, and Blessed be my son."

Kid groaned. "What is it? Isis is the Egyptian Goddess of motherhood right? It can't be that bad."

"I... destroyed the pyramid of Anubis. Pyramids are cursed! I might bring mother's pyramid down too!" Kid cried, getting down on his hands and knees and crying and beating the ground. "I'll wreck everything! I'm garbage, asymmetrical garba-a-a-age!"

"GET UP!" Kim yelled. "Or I'll charge you a sitting around and annoying me by caterwalling fee! What would your mother say if she saw you on the ground like this? She'd grab you by your frickin lapel and tell you to get a GRIP!"

Kid looked up at Kim with his eyes watering. "b... b... b..."

"now look, all Magic Users have an animal right? Not just witches, every person with a magical soul has a spirit guide! If you find out what yours is you should be able to get some answers shouldn't you?"

"I don't know, I'm going to talk to my father."

"M... MATTE! Kiddo you can't!" Kim told him.

"Why?"

"He finds out your mother was a witch what do you think he'll do to you?"

"How do you know he doesn't know already?" Kid asked cooly. "I want answers, and I'm an upright kind of guy. I'm not willing to just keep something like this a secret from the one person who might be able to help. Thank you, and good bye."

Kid turned and left the cave.

Kim got her kisshin soul that night, and Jacqueline was happy to have one to put towards becoming a death scythe.

Kid got back at almost Midnight, and found Chrona asleep on the couch waiting for him. Patti had fallen asleep as well with her head on Chrona's shoulder, snoring, her expression cute as a button. Liz however, blinked awake. "hey..."

"Hey..." Kid said quietly.

"You're sad."

"No I'm not."

"I can feel it on your wavelength."

Kid sighed. "I visited my mother's grave Liz. Of course I'd be sad."

"Oh... sorry... your mother was she... good?" Liz asked quietly.

"I don't know, I was very young when she died. Father loved her, dearly."

"Thats rough..." **At least i knew my mother.** Liz thought. **Even if she didn't take very good care of us. Kid never even got to know his.**

* * *

Maka lay down on the altar, pulling Byakko's quilt over her body as she snuggled into the plush woven rug that covered the cold stone. The old fashioned Japanese pillow, much like those a long time ago, wasn't the most comfortable, but it propped up her head. For some reason Maka decided to sleep on Byakko's altar because of Blair.

And then Maka was walking through a large sunlit library, filled from floor to ceiling with BOOKS! Her eyes sparkled. "Suuuuggooooiii..." Maka breathed.

"You like my collection? My my my, it seems you inherited /my/ tendencies rather than your father's." A white haired, pale skinned old woman was sitting at a table at the far end, sipping tea and nibbling on cookies with two other women. One of them bore a strong resemblance to Kami, the other had Spirit's flaming red hair.

"I toooold you." the red headed old woman laughed.

"Y... you're..." The three woman giggled. "YOU ARE!"

"I'm Stein's mother, Abygail." The paled haired woman said with a warm smile. "I've been waiting to talk to you Maka."

"Wh... what about?"

"You're ashamed to call my boy "father" and afraid of your own father." Abygail replied. The red headed woman giggled slightly. "Not to mention Spirit is trying to give you a younger sibling. When he gets pregnant the next time it will out you as being Stein and Spirit's daughter."

Maka's eyes widened, and then she looked down. "I don't know what to do." Maka said quietly. "I don't know how to feel. About any of it. My relationship with Spirit is poor, the woman I consider mother is always around traveling, and I just found out the mother I idolized isn't really my mother. I wanted to be a scythe meister all my life because of her and papa. Because I wanted a beautiful devoted loving family and..."

"I'll tell you a secret." kami's mother smiled, leaning in and hugging Maka close. "Family is not chosen by blood, your soul chooses your family. It chooses them before we are even born. We choose our parents, we choose our father, and we choose our home. You may not understand why, since nobody remembers what its like before they were in the womb, but you chose Stein and Spirit, and you chose Kami."

Maka shook her head, "I don't know... I just..." she started to cry. "I think... I think I'm falling in love with one of my classmates. A /girl/ classmate, and I'm so confused." Maka said quietly. "But my body, my heart, they /melt/ around her."

"Family is a matter of the soul Maka..." Abygail smiled. "Don't worry, just follow where your heart leads."

Maka was broken out of the ritual by /screaming./ Blackstar's screaming.

Blackstar was thrashing on Seiryuu's altar. "Bring him out of it! QUICKLY!" Kusanagi cried.

Curtana glowed sapphire, carefully drawing the star clan ninja back to consciousness. But he lay there, thrashing wailing, shocked by the sheer intensity of the vision he'd experienced. "Why daddy WHY? You're DEAD and you're STILL hurting me!"

"BLACKSTAR!" Soul ran to his lover, drawing him into his arms. Tsubaki knelt by her meister's side.

"Soul!" Blackstar snuggled into Soul's arms.

"You want to talk about it?"

"It... its... I dreamed that my Clan, my own clan was attacking me. I know they died because they were evil but... they attacked their own blood! You'd think they'd at least say something..."

"Blackstar." Soul said softly.

"boy am I glad you're a guy Soul, that way the /curse/ of the star clan doesn't get passed on to my kids." Blackstar lay there limply.

Soul's heart sank, he held Blackstar close, trying to comfort him. Soul had left his family because he couldn't stand them, but Blackstar didn't even have a family.

"Ever since I was small, I'd have the same nightmare. I'd dream that my father was chasing me, that White Star wanted to kill me because I was alive and he wasn't." Soul held on tightly to Blackstar.

"Shhhh, its okay... if you... if you have those nightmares, then call me... kay? I'm your lover, I /worry./" Soul told him.

"no need to worry." Blackstar said with a slightly bitter version of his huge grin. "I'm such a Big Man, I'll surpass God! But if it makes you feel better if I let you know I had an ickle bitty nightmare then sure I'll call you!" Blackstar laughed.

"moron." Tsubaki hissed. "I saw you whimpering in bed crying out for your father to stop!"

Curtana's upper body popped out of her sword form. "I am truly sorry. If I had known about these nightmares I would have advised that Lord Death not include you in the ritual. Black star, do you feel as if you can confront your tormentor."

"I'm the man who will surpass GOD! Just put me back under that trance of yours! I'll get him this time and MAKE him stop!"

"What was happening?"

"A haunting. His father's shade was attacking him in his dreams. Such dreams cannot do damage if his will remains strong. However, someone who is weak willed could very easily become sick from such visitations, as the shades can drain the life out of their victims if they are angered. If Blackstar is still as swarthy as he seems to be, then it is a compliment to his willpower and his hardiness."

Blackstar lay back down, closing his eyes and readying himself for battle. Soul hesitated. Then he pulled the blankets back up over Blackstar. Tsubaki sighed, going back to her place. She lay down and closed her eyes.

* * *

"hey sis..." Masamune was there, looking at her. He was a child again, and so was Tsubaki. He had the ball they'd play with in one hand and was tossing it up in the air, catching it, and tossing it again. Then suddenly he tossed it over his shoulder and grinned stupidly. "Lets play house."

Tsubaki stared, dumbstruck. "We get a night together, you from beyond the grave, and you want to play games? Thats it? No pearls of wisdom from brother to sister? No great regrets?"

"You always played my games. Lets play yours. We never got to. Besides, all my regrets involve what I never got to do with you. So... its not too late." he hesitated, blushing slightly.

Tsubaki nodded. "Yes! Gladly." A huge smile spread across her face.

* * *

This time when he entered his dream world, Blackstar found himself sitting at the base of a waterfall. And there was a shimmering form that appeared next to him. "M... M... Mifune?" Blackstar blinked. "Why are you here?"

Mifune turned, and pointed behind Blackstar. His mouth was moving but no sound came out. Getting irritateed, the O-samurai picked up a small sharp piece of stone and scratched on the rock. "White... Star. I came to fight White Star."

"No way, this is my battle."

Mifune growled, biting his lip as he scratched. "I... will... protect... you... I am... your... Messanger."

"What the heck is a messanger?"

Clearly the O-samurai was getting frustrated. As he scratched on the rock. "Are we stopping your nightmares or not?"

"Okay, but only step in if it looks like he's going to beat me."

Mifune nodded. Blackstar took off, leaping from rock to rock through a Japanese valley filled with spires. All over he could see scratched the words "Blackstar" "Blood Traitor" "Kill" and "Die." (2)

Then down below, Blackstar saw his target. Blackstar closed his eyes, remembering Tsubaki's words. "Rules of the Assasin Number One, blend into the darkness and erase your breath." Blackstar's eyes fluttered closed. And he concentrated, opening his senses to the world around him. Taste, touch, hearing, smell, and last... his eyes shot open and he opened sight. Blackstar's eyes flickered into stars. But he wasn't about to go berserk, he was completely and utterly calm.

"Rules of the assasin number two, transpositional thinking. Know your target." Blackstar's vision unfocused as he repeated what Sid had told him about his father. "I am about to attack my father, his death was ordered by Lord Death for the consumption of human souls, his name is White Star. He is reduced to something called a shade, and I do not know what that is." Blackstar said this quietly, his voice utterly devoid of the adrenaline rising in his blood.

"Rules of the assasin number three, before your target knows you're there, strike, and kill." Blackstar dropped from the spire of rock, powering up a Big Wave attack. He executed it without a sound.

White star roared in anger. "BLOOD TRAITOR! BLOOD TRAITOR! YOU BETRAYED OUR CLAN YOU MUST DIE!"

"YOU CANT TELL ME WHAT TO DO!" Blackstar roared. "YOU'RE DEAD, YOU HAVE NO RIGHT TO INVADE MY DREAMS! I WANT YOU OUT OF MY DREAMS RIGHT NOW! DONT COME BACK, IF YOU COME BACK I'LL BEAT THE SHIT OUT OF YOU!"

"YOU'RE A DISGRACE, YOU LET A TARGET GO JUST BECAUSE SHE WAS A CHILD!"

Mifune snarled, slicing through White star with one of his swords. "you think to get rid of me? Oh Taker of my life? Not THIS time! You can shield the boy, but you cannot fight his battles for him!" Blackstar and Mifune struck in unison. Mifune's sword swished, Blackstar hammered on White star with all the effort he could.

"Angela may have been a witch, BUT SHE MEANT SOMETHING TO ME! She was a RIVAL. You don't KILL rivals!"

"If there's a PRICE on their head you do!" White star roared.

"Money money money! WHAT THE FUCK IS IT WITH YOU AND MONEY!" Blackstar's next attack sent White star flying. But the ninja sprung back and answered in kind. Blackstar roared in rage and threw himself right back in, weaving his movements and attacks around Mifune's. Blow after blow was exchanged, and Blackstar found in shock that his wounds inflicted by White star were healing just as fast as he got them. "YOU ALL SUCK! EVERY LAST ONE OF YOU STAR CLAN FUCKERS SUCK! I'M GOING TO BE BETTER THAN ALL OF YOU, I'M GOING TO SURPASS GOD!"

Of course, Blackstar realized, I'm the man who will surpass God, so if I think that in my dreams my wounds will heal, they will!

"I WANT YOU OUT OF MY HEAD FOR GOOD WHITE STAR! YOU MAY BE MY BIOLOGICAL FATHER, BUT YOU ARE NO PARENT OF MINE! I HEREBY RENOUNCE ALL SPIRITUAL TIES TO THE STAR CLAN! I AM NOT ONE OF YOU, NOT IN BODY, NOT IN MIND, NOT IN SOUL! GET OUT OF MY HEAD, AND NEVER COME BACK! BLACK STAR BIG WAVE!" Blackstar roared, thrusting a blow in and twisting it for extra oomph.

This time, Whitestar screamed and vaporized, disappearing in a powerful burst of blue and gold flames.

Blackstar grinned. "Hey..." He turned to Mifune. "Thank you. I thought you were here to out shine me or something, but you being here helped me confront White Star and get him to go away. If I were ever left without Tsubaki, I'd want you here. You can be my number two."

Mifune smiled and nodded. Then he disappeared.

Blackstar faded into easily the best sleep he'd had in his young life, and back in the shrine, a huge, dopey grin spread on his sleeping face.

* * *

"OW! Not cool man!" Soul whined. He'd been whacked on the head three times by a little girl who claimed to be his many, many times great grandmother. Selena Evans, scythe and handmaiden of Michelle the White, later follower of Shinigami-sama.

"I'm not a man! Your mouth is absolutely putrid! You will hold your tongue in the presence of a woman."

"Hell no! You can't be my many times great grand mother! Your tits are smaller than Maka's!"

BAM! She hit him in the head, with the paddle of a butter churn no less. "IDIOT! I can't believe my descendant is so crude! IN MY DAY WE NEVER CALLED A WOMAN'S CLEVAGE TITS AND WE CERTAINLY DIDN'T CALL THEM INSUBSTANTIAL EVEN IF THEY WERE NON EXISTANT! DID YOU EVER THINK THAT YOUR MEISTER HITS YOU BECAUSE YOU INSULT HER BODY?"

Silence. "Selena."

"Hmm?"

"what was it like, working with lord death back in the day?"

"Well, he was rather scary at times, but I knew there was something warm in him. He had a softer side but you never saw it on the battlefield."

"I see... and Asura, what was it like, with a fully grown kisshin..."

"Catastrophic. Over ten thousand people died /directly/ from his attacks. And that was just that we could tally. Freak storms brewed up, even in the desert. Dust clouds, tornadoes, floods, even earthquakes and volcanos. Huge blizzards that would create glaciers overnight, he even got the colorado river to reverse its flow when it was struck by a Tsunami."

Soul ducked his head slightly. He tried to imagine the carnage that had resulted from such natural disasters made unnatural.

"Are you scared?" Selena asked.

"A little, but I have faith in my Meister."

Selena smiled, a small, weathered smile. "As it should be. If we weapons lost faith in our Meisters, we'd fall to the darkness." " They were fading out, as Soul's mind cycled out of the part of sleep in which dreams appeared, and into a state of dreamlessness. "Sleep well Soul Evans. And try not to antagonize Maka too much, she's having some troubles of her own right now."

* * *

1. This moment was brought to you by a pretty woman with cinnamon buns on her head saying, help me Obi wan kanobi, you're my only hope. :P

2. I'm borrowing a Harry Potter epithet. However, the implication is clear. White star is accusing Blackstar of abandoning his clan.


	10. Chapter 10

Kid had a migrane.

It came out of absolutely /nowhere/ and woke him out of a sound sleep. He had things to do today, but it was 5 am, blasted unlucky odd number. He wanted his eight hours of sleep. Yes, eight was his number, but it was the optimum number of hours a person needed their rest.

Chrona was sound asleep, curled up in his lover's arms and snuggling against Kid's chest.

Migraines had been a recurring issue over the past few days. Kid had maxed out the safe dosage for Excedrin /twice./ Before Kim finally dumped an herbal remedy on his desk at home room. "Try this, its stronger than the Excedrin and doesn't beat your kidneys and liver with a hammer if you overdose."

"A... arigatou..." Kid mumbled quietly. "I don't know what's going on with me, these migraines just come on like an asymmetrical Mack truck."

"Stress? Our classes /are/ getting more intense. And if you react to /everything/ thats asymmetrical the way you did to the prospect of going into another pyramid, then you probably stressed your body out." Kim suggested.

"I don't know. Anyway, my system might be able to handle a little bit more than they say is safe. Those guidelines were made for humans, my body regenerates damage to vital organs. It takes a few days, but the right injections can speed that process up."

"Yes, but its best not to get into that sort of a situation anyway. /Trust/ me. When my mother was pregnant with me, she had seriously painful migraines /and/ aching ankles and back. She took that /consistently/. Now I may be ornery, but I'm perfectly healthy. So she must have done something right."

"So, how did it go?" Death asked Kid over lunch. "oh dear."

Kid's head was pounding. "Father what do you make of this?" He held up the small bag of herbal remedy. "Kim said it was something for pain that wouldn't put stress on the organs."

"hmmm..." Death picked up the bag, taking a pinch of the substance up on his fingers. "hmm, I haven't seen this remedy in ages. Centuries even." he sniffed it, then slipped a bit into his mask. "hmm, yes this is definitely the one I was thinking of."

"and?"

"Perfectly safe." Death handed the bag back. "I noticed you've been going through a bit of a problem with headaches Kid, is everything alright?"

"yeah, its just these... migranes..." Kid rubbed his forehead, he'd had one for the last half hour.

Shinigami-sama, also known as Lord Death, quickly measured out the required dose into the tea he'd set out for Kid, stirred in two spoonfulls of sugar and then handed it to Kid. "here, and a word of advice, sugar increases its effects. Its unfortunate, but our shinigami anatomy tends to metabolize conventional medicines at a very fast rate. If you wanted to take normal human medicine, you'd have to take the long acting dose, /not/ the fast acting one. It will be gone in a couple of hours if you take Excedrin." Death set the empty pain medicine bottle on the tea table rather pointedly. "If something's wrong you can talk to me you know."

Kid looked down into his tea, Kim must be a master herbalist because the herbal remedy was working almost instantly. He didn't want to tell his father that he'd been having sex with three of his classmates, or the sudden, intense needs for physical contact, even sexual contact, that he felt with those three and especially with Chrona.

"I'm surprised Kim knew that remedy, seeing as it was invented by Eibon's Order." Death mused. "Well well, quite surprising. I should have Athena pay her a visit. You know... a loooong long time ago, a witch from the Black Order sliced off my right arm. Eibon and Michelle tended my wounds while the limb regenerated. He gave me that very remedy Kim made for you to numb the pain, and Michelle figured out what herbs would stimulate the regeneration process."

"you can't do that without letting Kim know that you think she's a witch. And by the way, I followed her last night, she was visiting a witch funerary site in Choco Canyon." Kid frowned. "Its that powerful a remedy?"

Shinigami-sama made a face. "i hate that place. The witches can have it. I just don't want them hurting my students if they're traveling through the area. And if letting them commemorate their dead there unmolested will keep them from killing /my/ charges, then I'll do that." He sighed. "As for the remedy, yes, its capable in a concentrated enough dose and when mixed with sugar or fruit juices of numbing labor pains. Its that strong."

They fell into silence. "I found something there, about mother." Kid said quietly. "There was an inscription calling her a traitor. And when I put my tie clip up to a hole next to the inscription I found a message from her." Kid closed his eyes. "It said to go to the pyramid of Isis. That her gear would be there. Or something from it at least."

Death chuckled. "Stella loved treasure hunts. She used to hide the christmas presents in different places around the house and make me go hunting for them. And usually at the end of the trail of clues, she'd be waiting there with a big red bow tied to the top of her head and she'd say "last present, go ahead and open it." He heard a gusty sigh behind the mask, quite sad. "aaaah, mottainai..."

"What's that?" Kid blinked.

"A philosophical concept in Japanese culture, essentially it means longing for things that have gone and can never come back." Death sighed. "But what happened in the past, it /can/ come back." Death frowned.

"What can?" Kid asked.

"The sun didn't always have a face Kid. Nor did the moon." Death sighed. "For the world to be at peace, the forces that govern Magic have to be in balance with each other. When they aren't, we get the world the way it is now. With kisshins and witches and madness, massive destruction and devastation." Death replied. "But I can't use magic, I don't have that gift, I can't bring back what was lost. Only someone of Eibon's bloodline can. He was called the Great Wizard for a reason." He frowned. "Kid, Stella, she was Eibon's descendant. When your grandmother, Strega, died, she whispered something in my ear. She said that one day soon, someone would be born from her bloodline who could bring the balance back."

"You mean me."

"Possibly, it was less than a year before you were born. Or it could mean your children. We don't know. I am, however, willing to stake quite a bit on your success. I watched you fight the dutchman, what did you say to him?"

"that I didn't want evil destroyed, I wanted it balenced."

"That was the clue right there. Your OCD /was/ born of a disease, but I believe the form it took was because something inside of you seeks balance. Something deep inside your soul is telling you that the way things are is not how they were meant to be, and is trying to tell you what you were meant to do." Shinigami-sama replied. "But thats my opinion, perhaps you have a different one."

"You don't really know do you?"

"Magic is far from my specialty. I know a fair bit about how it works and its more subtle effects, but thats mostly oriented towards history and defense purposes. I /do/ know that people who have the ability to use Magic are very connected to their surroundings. Still, I can only speculate. Even though I've read Eibon's writings top to bottom, I still don't find any explanation for how someone who's magical abilities haven't been activated would manifest or hint at that ability being there. He gave very specific signs of what would happen when the ability emerges, but not before its ready to."

Kid closed his eyes. "I've... I've been having strange dreams, where the ancient deities are watching me, looking at me. They ask me cryptic questions that I don't even understand."

Shinigami-sama looked over at Kid with mild surprise. "Such dreams are part of the quickening. It means that the time has come for you to choose, activate your ability to do magic, and take all the teaching that goes with it, all the responsibility, all the vulnerability... or..."

"Or what?"

"Or choose to let the power lie, in which case, the Gods will sense your refusal, and the dreams will fade. It is a natural process that all people with the potential to use magic go through."

Kid sighed, putting his head down on the table. "I don't know enough to make these kinds of choices. I'm not closed to the idea if it makes Asura's madness weaker and brings balance to the world but... I want more information first." he looked depressed. "you can't tell me anything?"

"Other than fixing the balance could make our enemies weaker, not particularly." Death frowned. "You will need to figure out what your animal is though. I wonder... Stella's spirit guide was the Jackal. She was the priestess of Anubis and Bastet." Kid groaned. Anubis anubis anubis, that dratted jackal kept showing up in his life.

Kid didn't want to talk more about what was going on, he was ashamed really to reveal to his father that he was sleeping with one of his classmates almost nightly and two more of his classmates regularly. And the migraines pretty much made him forget. When he got one he didn't want to talk. And he /certainly/ didn't want to have a father/son talk about the birds and the bees.

Survival class was slightly different, and Kid /almost/ couldn't enter the area that day. "Now that we've done basic techniques, we're going to have a build off this week. Anything in this junk yard you can use. You must create something that will give you one of the survival basics, food, water, heat and communication, shelter, and security. You may work in groups of up to four."

The random, /jarring/ array of scrap wood, metal and plastic in the dump had Kid falling over immediately, blood spurting from his nose. Even though his brain comprehended what Azusa was saying, he couldn't help it, even the sky, with its clouds arranged at random, was more symmetrical than the junk yard.

"M... Maka-chan... Ki... Kiddo-kun um... ano..." Chrona tugged on Maka's sleeve. "Can I team up with you and Soul? Ki... Kiddo is... um... I don't think I'll pass this assignment if I work with him."

That jarred Kid awake. "Must... get... up..." he muttered, blushing furiously. "Must... brave... asymmetry... for... chrona..." He moaned. Then a few seconds later. "NOOOOOOOOO, even the sky is more symmetrical than this junk yard! Liz, Patti, quickly, cover my eyes!"

Patti laughed uproariously. Liz grabbed Kid by the collar. "Snap out of it. Your boyfriend is pairing off with someone else for the assignment, because /you're/ too neurotic to be of any use!"

Kid started to cry as Liz shook him. "You're right, I'm horrible asymmetrical scum not even worthy of Chrona... just flush me down the toilet with some toilet paper that doesn't have the end folded into a triangle." Kid wailed.

"Azusa-sensei, I think Kid needs a few moments to breathe."

Kid stumbled to a toilet somewhere in the jumble and threw up in it. "so... asymmetrical... cannot look." Kid covered his eyes with his sleeve, then crossed his arms over his eyes so that they were covered in a symmetrical fashion. Liz calmly dragged her Meister out of the junk yard.

Chrona started to cry. "I thought I knew how to deal with Kid's neurosis. But this is horrible, when he gets like this he doesn't want me anymore!" Chrona sobbed.

"Chrona thats not true." Patti said happily. "When Kid's neurosis gets out of hand he says a lot of things he doesn't mean. Its not you he doesn't want, its the junk in this junk yard." She patted him on the back. "When Kid gets like this, you deal with it by giving him a hug and telling him he's not whatever horrible thing he says he is."

Chrona nodded. In the end, Chrona ended up in a group with Maka, Soul, and Patti. Kim, Jackie, Ox and Havar were in another group. Kilik, thunder, fire, and Tsubaki were in group number three, and that unfortunately left Blackstar as the odd man out.

Azusa sighed. "Blackstar, one second, I'm going to see if Kid can continue and if not I'll have Liz keep an eye on him and put you with Kilik."

"Can you put me with Soul's group instead?" Blackstar asked hopefully.

"Blackstar, dude, we need someone else with strong muscles." Kilik pointed out. "Fire and thunder are too young to do much heavy lifting."

"I still want to be in Soul's group."

"But surely a big man like you wouldn't let two little kids lift heavy objects on their own." Kilik said slyly. Fire and Thunder looked up at Blackstar with hugely cute eyes. "After all, they could get hurt."

That did it. Appeal to Blackstar's ego and make it seem like they couldn't do it without him. "okay! You're totally right, it would be uncool for a big man like me to let a couple of little kids do all the work."

Soul snorted and burst out laughing.

"You have a week to come up with your builds. You may not use an electrically powered tool but you /can/ use the abilities of your weapons if you want."

Ox rubbed his hands together, motioning for Kim, Jackie and Havar to lean in close. "I got an idea, lets make an electrical storage cell that stores electricity from Havar's techniques."

"I want to do something that showcases Jackie's fire abilities though." Kim sighed.

Kid sat there dumbly outside the junk yard with Liz. Liz sighed, sitting back to back with her Meister. She was bored, but she wasn't going to leave Kid. "I let Chrona down. He wanted to be in my group, and I can't do anything."

Azusa smiled as she approached the two. "Kid, I can come up with a make up assignment. I wanted to challenge you though. Sometimes you have to push that neurosis down and confront it without being destructive."

"Thats not the point, I'm supposed to be looking after Chrona, and I /can't/ while he's in there."

Chrona curled up in his usual position while he, Maka, Soul and Patti tossed ideas back and forth. Ragnarok seemed to think they should make a flamethrower. Chrona shook his head and wanted to do something to do with water and food. Soul was thinking a heating system and Patti just decided to go with whatever they chose.

Maka hmmmed. "What if we make a solar work station? We can use sunlight to do all those things at once."

"okay, i'm listening." Soul was crouched with them.

"Well, the sun can be used for distillation, cooking, and heating." Maka explained. "The shelter would need to have a black surface to catch the heat, but could be very warm. For the still we'd need glass, for the cooking both metal /and/ glass. And we'd need some clear plastic tubing."

Blackstar, Kilik, fire and thunder put their heads together, trying to come up with something that could showcase Fire and Thunder's abilities as Nature Shamen.

Nature Shamen were a /unique/ psychic and magical phenomenon. They could use limited nature magic without being affected by the sway of magic that made witches hostile. And they had a powerful connection with their surroundings and a lot of empathy. In a combat situation, they were very reliable as an early warning system for concealed witches and kisshins. But they also had an ingenius sense for harmonizing with the very elements that posed a shelter risk.

Chrona suddenly stopped, and shook his head. "This is wrong." He muttered.

"What is?" Soul was poking through crates and pulling out large panes of glass for Maka to approve or disapprove as reflectors and focusing devices.

"I want Kid to be able to participate." Chrona said stubbornly. He sat down and refused to move.

"Okay /how/." Patti asked.

"Hey! We could make a symmetrical work area."

"I repeat, how?" Patti asked.

"um..." Chrona hesitated. "WALLS!"

"huh?" Maka blinked, looking at the panel of glass in front of her. "SHEET METAL!" She exclaimed. "We need it as straight and square as we can get." She clapped Chrona on the back. "C'mon Chrona, get up. This will help our build too. Patti, give me a hand."

"What are you going to do."

Maka began to draw. "4 walls of sheet metal, each consisting of 8 panels. The metal catches the sun's reflection and helps heat and light the area and we can put it to better use. Inside, we want a three sided leanto, preferably with a dark surface on the back and glass on the other two sides. Find two objects that Kid can use as a cane and something to cover his eyes so he can't see the junkyard."

"Heh, one for each hand."

"Thats right, Meisters can feel bare if they're away from their partners too long, having a cane in each hand would be a pacifying gesture not only for his OCD but the curvature of the canes would feel like the handle of a gun to a blind gun user. Liz and Patti can guide him further by sending out pings of their wavelength or by resonating with him while he walks in order to help distract his neurosis." Of course, a meister with any form of mental instability could often see an improvement in their condition through their training. So Liz and Patti themselves could help Kid surpress his OCD long enough.

"Once we get the panels up, we can get this moving. Chrona, patti, don't tell Kid what we're doing, it will be a surprise."

When Azusa came back, she blinked in surprise at the wood scaffolding that was already going up. "You've started already on fortifications? I'd have expected something more from you Maka."

Maka was concentrating very, very hard on the piece of sheet metal in front of her. "Thats not what I was thinking of ma'am, hear Chrona out please."

"Its not fair Kid can't participate in the lesson because of his OCD." Chrona said stubbornly. "So we're building a symmetrical work area for him to use as a sanctuary."

"Very good." Azusa got a small quirk of a smile on her face. "Extra marks if he doesn't have a reaction."

Maka frowned, studying the piece of sheet metal. "Patti can your bullets tear through metal."

"Oh sure, Oneechan and I have done it loads of times. Just because we shoot spirit energy doesn't mean it can't penetrate an inanimate object and leave a bullet hole." Patti giggled. "See if you can lift me Maka." she changed into a weapon.

Maka found adjusting to Patti's wavelength took quite awhile. She had to clear her mind of everything, calm herself, and then she felt the hyperactive vibration of Patti's soul. "Gotcha!" Maka lifted Patti off the ground. "Okay, I'm going to test your bullets to see how big a hole they make." Maka carefully aimed Patti at a test piece of sheet metal.

It didn't take long to use Soul, Ragnarok (in Chrona's case) and Patti to cut symmetrical sheets of metal. By the time the 15 minute warning went out by Azusa, they had the outer walls up. A broken yard stick and broken tape measure served as a flat edge to guage angle with.

So blindfolded, with Liz and Patti in his hands and Chrona gently pulling him by the arm, Kid carefully entered the special enclosure that Maka had designed. Soul grinned, replacing the pull out pair of panels that would act as an entry point. "We should mount these on a spring trigger."

"You brought me into the junk yard didn't you?" Kid asked, feeling over the blindfold.

"Chrona wouldn't work unless we found a way for you to participate." Maka deadpanned. "This was the easiest way."

When Kid removed the blindfold, he found himself inside of four walls made of sheet metal. Four small tables, one in each corner, and a larger table in the exact middle of the enclosure between the other two. Materials deemed alright had been placed in four piles exactly the same distance apart. And between them bins had been set up.

"I used what I knew about OCD to try to figure out how to distract you from it. And I came up with the idea of setting it up so you could take your OCD out sorting materials from the debris piles and figuring out what of it is usable. So the bins are for you to sort things into. You get to be our sorter." Maka snickered.

"What's usable?"

"Yeah, and usable doesn't mean symmetrical, it means its undamaged enough that we can fix it or turn it into something new." Maka told him.

Kid was slowly acclimating to the "sanctuary" from the asymmetry of the main junk yard. It was unusually hot, and bright, the sun was reflecting off the walls. But he could count the eight panels on each wall, the eight bolts used to fasten each panel to the wood frame, and that calmed him down long enough to catch his breath.

Kid groaned as he started to realize that in a true survival situation, symmetry might not be an option. There would be junk, disorder, chaos... it wasn't a good place to be. He'd have to learn to surpress his OCD long enough to get out of whatever area he was in.

Kid took a deep breath, hands out, carefully running them over the piles of junk, trying to pick some semblance of order from the chaos. There were several items in here that were useful.

Kid moved on to the containers, plastic barrels for large items, plastic buckets for small, each measured into a perfect circle. It was chaotic, but Kid's eyes, conditioned by his OCD, began to pick symmetrical shapes and intervals of eight placed carefully throughout the fenced in area. Even the physical features in the work area were arranged so that if Kid faced a wall, he could count eight objects arranged symmetrically. If viewed from above, the work area was almost in and of itself a geometric mandala.

Chrona looped an arm around Kid's waist and leaned into his side. Kid chuckled. "Thanks. Lemme finish checking okay? Then I'm all yours."

Kid didn't get to finish checking, the bell rang, and as they headed to their next class, Maka explained to Kid what she had in mind for their project. A shelter/compound arrangement that would allow for solar production of most of the survival basics. The one thing they couldn't get that easily was food, but they could account for that by rigging a solar dryer. Plastic tubing was easier than glass piping, but she wanted Kid to see if Liz and Patti could somehow rig their spirit bullets into a stream of soul wavelength rather than an actual bullet, with any luck they could create almost a welding sort of technique with it. And if that failed there was the fundemental manuver of channeling their wavelength into a finger sized stream for the same purpose. The issue was that this was difficult for most Meisters to get the hang of. Even Kid had issues with focusing and shaping his wavelength into a specific shape that wasn't symmetrical.

It was a long day, and at the end of it, he'd convinced Patti to massage the top of his head, and that felt a lot better. Then he went from head to toe through the house making it symmetrical before sitting down to go over Maka's designs. It wasn't particularly bad, two water distillers on either side of the shelter, the back end covered in... he couldn't quite read her hand writing on that spot... ah there it was, either something black or something made of metal to absorb the heat. Use two sheets of plywood on the bottom of the shelter elevated on bricks... why on earth. Oh yes, air circulation kept the shelter from becoming too cold. They were in the desert after all, the desert night was far colder than the daytime. A row of four solar ovens would be around the front of the shelter. Four? Not eight? Oh right... Kid realized Maka had been using numbers that could be added or multiplied into the number eight. Really, she'd been quite thoughtful hiding all these repetitions of his number in the project. And all to pacefy his OCD.

After he'd finished his homework, and his dinner, Kid retired up to his room with Chrona. And as the two of them drifted off to sleep, Chrona mumbled. "Kiddo-kun, your belly has a pretty glow..."

Kid sat up straight. "Chrona?"

"its all blurry though, I can't see it too well..." His hands lightly traced Kid's abdomen. Kid hissed in pleasure, the area was sensitive damnit!

It wasn't just physical sensation though, this... /powerful/ emotion wrapped him up in its grip. It wasn't bad, it felt amazingly good. But it had Kid even more confused than he'd been before. Kid shuddered in pleasure, wrapping his arms tightly around the other boy. Chrona blinked. "anooo..."

Kid smirked, nuzzling into Chrona's chest. "shhhh, go to sleep."

Kid was late to lunch, looking up archaic low tech builds for survival class and trying to find something that was symmetrical that he could make to contribute to the group project. But his mind kept going back to the disturbing swings of maternal emotion and lustful desire that had been plaguing him of late. Even with his migranes, Kid had still felt them.

And so, he decided to put aside his school assignment. He headed into the library, flashed his ID to get into the restricted section, and made a beeline for the section about Shinigami. He pulled out a book on Shinigami anatomy.

Four volumes and Kid was impatiently flicking pages when he found what he was looking for entirely by accident on page 85. And even then, he only noticed it because one of the page numbers was an 8. The volume was hand written, and very faded. But Kid had a sinking feeling that this was his father's handwriting several hundred years before. The thought of his father writing an academic treatise on how his species mated really, really evoked mixed feelings for Kid that ossilated between disgust and a need for answers.

_intense pair bonding may occur, but it doesn't always happen just with one person. Shinigami who are undergoing this process develop a low level empathic sense for their chosen mate's presence, similar to the bonds they often share with their weapons. _

Kid flicked to the previous page and soon he got the full passage. He read it four times over, and still couldn't quite process it.

_Mating rituals between shinigami are very emotionally intense, and the first signs that a young reaper is coming of age usually come in the form of emotional pangs of need for affection or attention out of character for the individual. A powerful instinct to nurture, from animals to a garden to human friends and comrades may occur as well. It is especially small cute things that stimulate this response. _

_During mating, intense pair bonding may occur, but it doesn't always happen just with one person. Shinigami undergoing this process develop a low level empathic sense for their chosen mate's presence, similar to the bonds they often share with their weapons. This bonding reaction is triggered by sexual intercourse, and consists of small pulses of wavelength between the would be mates. _

Chrona found Maka in the exact part of the library that Kid had just left, looking over books on sun experiments and sustainability. "M... m... maka-chan? Can I ask you a question?"

"Hmm?" Maka blinked out of her intense concentration on the book and smiled. "Sure Chrona."

"L... Last night right before I went to bed, I saw a blue glow in Kid's stomach."

"A glow? Where?"

Chrona pointed to the spot on his body. "here..." Lower abdomen. Maka frowned.

"My first reaction is that you were starting to develop soul perception."

"Thats what I thought, except its only right before I go to sleep and its really blurry." Chrona rubbed his eyes.

Maka shrugged. "i read awhile back that some people develop limited forms of soul perception. I even read about a case in 1850 where one of Blackstar's clansmen developed a synesthesia type form of the ability where the souls he saw were represented with constellations and astrological symbols, even nordic runes. I wouldn't worry about it too much, I think your soul is just developing the way all human souls do."

"But the light..."

"Thats the strange part." Maka rubbed her forehead. "Stein had me study the visual cues associated with soul perception when the ability first emerged. In a woman a smaller soul growing in the abdomen means a pregnancy. But Kid's a guy, I mean, there's a weapon mutation that allows male weapons to have kids but its like... super rare. Like less than 10 in the world at any given time."

Chrona nodded.

"Look, I'm not sure whats going on, if you're worried about him, tell Kid you're worried. Even if he says not to worry about him, its okay to tell him when you're concerned about him okay?"

Chrona nodded again.

Maka bit her lip. "Chrona...?"

"Yes?"

Maka hesitated, and then it just kinda boiled over, and Maka started to cry. "I... I found out something recently, I... I found out that... that mumma wasn't really mumma and..."

Chrona blinked.

"I found out that my other parent is Stein-hakase..." Maka sniffled. "And I don't know how to feel, or how I should be handling it. Mumma still feels like mumma to me. I can't feel any bond to Stein at all beyond that of a teacher and a student and... I mean... they never told me the truth. Papa was scared of what I'd say or do if I found out. He was scared I wouldn't turn out normal. But now... now that I've learned later I feel like such a freak."

Chrona shuffled over to Maka and hugged her tightly. "Maka-chan... what you told me goes for your father too. You should deal with it by telling him this..."

"I can't... I can't... there is... no bond, to either of them... I grew up hating my father for cheating on my mother, and it turns out their marriage was a sham to protect me. He did all that because he thought he was protecting me..."

Chrona was about to answer when he heard a... "YAHOO! ITS OVER HERE TSUBAKI!" Blackstar came running down the aisle. Then he saw Maka crying. "MAKA! Bask in the big wonderfullness of ORE-SAMA AND DRY AWAY YOUR TEARS!" Blackstar squeezed Maka and Chrona both in a choking tight bear hug.

Maka squirmed trying to get away. "Blackstar, can't breathe..."

"...ORE-SAMA WILL MAKE YOU SMILE AGAIN AND LAUGH A BIG HEARTY BELLY LAUGH BECAUSE BIG LAUGHS ARE THE ONLY WAY TO LAUGH, JUST TAKE IT FROM THE MAN WHO WILL SURPASS..." Maka, desperate for air, kicked Blackstar, aiming for the shins and accidentally hitting him in the crotch.

"YOOOOOOOOOOOWWWWWWWWWWW" Blackstar yelled.

"BAKAAAA!" Maka chopped Blackstar on the head.

"SHHHHHHHHHH!" The librarian glared at Maka from the desk, and glared even harder at Blackstar.

Maka sniffled on the ground and Tsubaki smiled warmly down at her. "Are you alright Maka-chan? I know it was loud and rude, but he was only trying to get you to stop crying."

Blackstar sat there, stunned and clutching his crotch with one hand and his bleeding head with the other.

Maka wrapped her arms around Tsubaki and hugged the kursari gama. "Blackstar, do you mind if Tsubaki and I have some alone time tonight?"

"not at all..." Blackstar stammered.

"you going out with Tsubaki tonight?" Soul asked, peering around the corner.

"Yeah, why?"

"Blackstar and I have a Halo game and a couple of 2 liters calling our names... well, that and a /lot/ of sex." Soul grinned cheesily at his Meister.

"YAHOO!" Blackstar magically recovered and pounced Soul.

It happened in a flash...

BAWOOOOOOOOOOSHHH! A rush of magic shot through the library, Maka heard a yelp of shock from Kid, all coming from the restricted section.

Several blurs shot past her, one, two, three, four, five, six... a long pause, then a rattle, rattle, crash and an "oh BOTHER." and another crash. The bookshelf nearest Maka threatened to fall over on top of her. "SHIT!" At the time Maka thought the deeper timbre of her voice was from crying and the shock of being attacked. She instinctively grabbed Chrona and Tsubaki by the collar and hauled them out of the way.

Then the source of the crash became appearant. Kid was stumbling around with something clinging to his face. "HELP! I'm all off balance!" Kid's voice sounded almost like it had been knocked up an octave or two.

"oh fluff and bodkins, my cloak! Its caught on this bratling reaper's coat button!" A second voice shrieked.

"GET IT OFF OF MY FACE!" Kid yelled. "OFF OFF OFF!" he struggled, and pulled the... thing... off of his face. It ripped off a coat button. Kid's jaw dropped to the floor, then he fell over, blood spurting from his nose.

Only, Kid wasn't a he anymore, there were breasts pushing his coat taught, rather large ones too.

And suddenly behind him Blackstar yelled. "I... I... I... I'VE GOT BIG TIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIITTTSS!"

Soul laughed, then realized he'd changed too when his voice was different. "This is so uncool."

Chrona was slightly more buxom, but otherwise still the same.

The people in the library that afternoon were going through similar states of shock. Maka noted in disgust that her father was squeezing his own breasts and clinging to Stein, who seemed otherwise non plussed.

Liz and Patti ran for their Meister immediately. "Kid!" They both looked rather thuggish.

"What on earth?" Tsubaki had become tall, broad shouldered, and strong. Her normally curvaceous chest flat and hard. Her body was firm and well toned. Maka started patting herself over and realized her hair had turned short. Her form slender. She was wearing a boy's school uniform and a beret under her coat, which was suddenly very tight in the wrong places and too loose in the right ones.

The... thing, was face first in a pile of books, only its tiny bird like feet twitching in the air. "oh bother..." it was mumbling.

Stein finally managed to get an extremely lustful Spirit off of him and strode over, plucking the thing from the pile of books. "Well well well, Toc, its been what... twenty years?"

"About that yes..." The creature peered up into Stein's face... "Franken? I thought I knew that creepy wavelength!"

"How'd you get out?"

"The jail cell broke." Toc replied. "It was the watch towers combined with age and wear. Their rather nostalgic wavelength tore open the seal. And then /that/ bratling reaper blunders into my shelf by mistake, and the book got knocked over. All it took was the tap."

"Wonderful, that means I have to deal with an..."

Spirit latched onto Stein's waist. "me luv you long time, c'mon, lets go skip work for..."

Maka glared at Spirit, thumping a book menacingly in her hand. "Explain now or the both of you get chopped."

"Its quite simple." Stein replied. "There are three known copies of a magic tool known as "The Book of Eibon." One of them is in Shibusen's restricted section and /had/ special seals on it keeping what was inside from getting out into the city. One of them was taken apart by Arachne and we're still trying to retrieve the pages. The third is long lost. And Toc here is programmed not to tell us where it is."

"Ah well, there's a lot of things i'm programmed not to do. Knowledge must not be given freely, it must be earned." Toc had a rather sharp brittish accent, very proper and prim and this sort of a... querelous voice. (1)

Kid sat straight up screaming. "AAAAAAAAAH, I'M A GIRLLLLLLLLLL!" Then he fainted again. Patti laughed rather dumbly.

"I feel stupider."

"Tsuuuubaaakiiii..." Blackstar clung to Tsubaki's arm, rubbing his breasts along it. "Come play Halo with me and Soul. You can braid my hair!"

Tsubaki blushed, carefully prying her Meister off her, blushing furiously.

Maka glared at Blackstar, pulling Tsubaki to her. "He may be your weapon but he's my man." She stuck her tongue out at Blackstar.

"how rude!" Blackstar stuck her tongue out right back. "Stuck up nerd! You should get bent over a bed sometime it would do you good."

Soul started laughing. Maka chopped Blackstar. "Don't think I won't chop you just because you've been turned into a girl!"

Kilik burst out laughing too, he, Fire, Thunder, Ox, Havar, Kim and Jackie had pushed their way through the crowd. Kilik was wearing a school girl sailor suit, hair done up in cornrows and pulled into a ponytail. Fire and thunder were wearing rather cute little pinafores. Ox's hair had grown out, though his bangs hung down long and spikey. And Kim was... surprisingly /buff./ Jackie's hair was long, for a guy, pulled back behind her in a ponytail. Havar's hair had grown a few inches, and his female body was rather skinny and reedy, with just a hint of curve in the chest and slightly more round hips. But his feminity showed more in bone structure than it did in curves.

Stein sighed. "I'm sure Shinigami-sama's heard this."

"ah yes, well... no doubt he's been."

"STEEEEIINNN!" Shinigami-sama bellowed, striding across the floor. "Where is that little hoodlum?"

"Dad is mad." Kid deadpanned.

Shinigami-sama had taken human form, and /his/ body had become just as buxom and curvaceous as... well... Kid's mom.

Kid blinked, recognizing his father by his wavelength but not used to the flustered, irate expression on his face the slightest.

"Seal broke..." Toc deadpanned.

"you were supposed to maintain it." Shinigami-sama snapped. "For this very reason."

"It broke because you suck at making them." Spirit pointed out. "You /suck/ at sealing things without help remember?"

"Right now the only thing thats going to suck is you trying to spit out your teeth." Shinigami-sama threatened.

"With all respect sir, your seals are rather sub par. Perhaps the bratling reaper might have better luck." Toc said cooly. Clearly there was tension here. Kid couldn't place it, the two simply... did not... get along.

Shinigami-sama sighed. "I should explain." he told the students now staring at him and the strange puppet clearly animated to sentience by Magic. "inside the book of Eibon there are seven demons sealed in there to keep people from stealing its secrets. Each one stands for one of the seven deadly sins. The magic that came out of the book into the library is from the demon of Lust, the Succubus, and it changes people into the opposite gender, more specifically what they're attracted to in the opposite gender."

Which explained why Maka was slender and petite still. She clung to Tsubaki, though the kusari gama was giving off an increasingly flustered sexual wavelength. Tsubaki wrapped possessive arms around Maka's waist. Maka could sense the /tension/ in Tsubaki's wavelength. The weapon wasn't dealing well with changing at all.

Chrona was clinging to Kid, while Ragnarok was happily playing with Chrona's new chest and cackling meanly. At some point Chrona grabbed a fallen book and smashed Ragnarok on the head with it. "QUIT IT!" He yelled.

"DO YOU KNOW WHAT ITS LIKE BEING TURNED FROM A MACHO GUY INTO A CHICK?" Ragnarok shrilled. "I NEED TO BEAT YOU MORE!" Ragnarok started hitting Chrona in the head.

Chrona responded by shoving the book he was holding into Ragnarok's mouth and then punching him in the nose. "YOU'RE A HORRIBLE PERSON RAGNAROK! I HATE IT WHEN YOU ACT LIKE THIS AND I JUST WISH YOU'D STOP! WHY ARE YOU SO GROSS ALL THE TIME? EVEN WHEN YOU'RE A GIRL YOU'RE VULGER! YOU ACT LIKE MY SEX LIFE IS A JOKE AND YOU'RE INTENSELY DISRESPECTFUL TO THE PEOPLE I CARE ABOUT MOST BECAUSE IT BOTHERS YOU THAT THEY CARE! YOU KNOW WHAT IT IS RAGNAROK? YOU'RE JEALOUS OF THE ATTENTION! SO YOU THINK IF YOU MISBEHAVE LONG ENOUGH PEOPLE WILL PAY YOU ATTENTION!"

Ragnarok stared, face turning from black to pure white. Maka stared. Shinigami-sama plugged his ears. "Chrona?"

"I... I..." Chrona turned red in the face. "WHATS WRONG WITH MEEEE!" Chrona fell to the ground and whimpered, beating on the carpet. "I've suddenly got Maka's temper and Kid's self consciousness! Its very uncomfortable and I want it to stop!"

"yes well there is that." Toc croaked drolly. "By "what you're attracted to in the opposite gender" I also mean personality. So if there's someone you're quite fond of... you might find yourself picking up some of their habits. Sorry."

"I feel... bubbly." Kid frowned. "Sexy... like I don't have a care in the world! I don't even care how asymmetrical the books are... but for some reason, I'm having severe trouble dealing with the /stares./ I feel bare... naked..." Kid looped his arms around Chrona's waist, almost as if by doing so he could quiet the sudden sense of... being /bare./ How must people see him? With his neurosis, and now he wasn't a neurotically obsessive /boy./ He was a moody, neurotic, obsessive girl with low self esteem.

"God Chrona how do you /deal/ with this?" Kid demanded. "This is intolerable! I feel the sudden need to hide in my room and not come out! But at the same time I feel... perky? I feel stupider even!"

"That would probably be meeeee." Patti chimed. "You even have my chest." She heheheheh'd a bit, snickering like a thug.

Liz sighed. "What a drag, i'm going to have to redo my nails."

"its worse than that." Shinigami-sama sighed. "Toc and I are going to have to repair the seal on the book, I'm going to need you guys to put the seven demons back."

"I counted six blurs."

"Are you sure Maka?"

"Very, I have keen eyesight even as a guy." Maka replied. "School's long out for the day, my outfit is very uncomfortable, and I really probably should rest. I wasn't feeling particularly happy when this started anyway. And I can feel how uncomfortable Tsubaki's wavelength is from here."

By the time they got Tsubaki home, the poor weapon was red in the face with a tent between her legs. "g... g... gomen... maka-chan... I..." Tsubaki blushed.

"Are you okay?" Maka closed the door to her room and hopped up onto the bed, gesturing for Tsubaki to join her.

"yes... to be honest, I feel this way a lot when we cuddle like we do. You just can't see it because I normally don't have a penis but..." Tsubaki groaned. "You're just that arousing."

Maka blushed furiously, looking up at the kusari gama. "I turn you on that often?"

Tsubaki nodded, blushing. "I am actually far more lustful than I appear." she admitted. "Its just that I don't act on it. And with you, I was trying to be... polite... I knew it was your first relationship and you weren't feeling very secure in your sexuality in the first place."

"No, but this is my chance to explore it." Maka rested her head on Tsubaki's chest. "i've always wondered what its like to have a penis."

"really..."

"yeah, usually right before I'm about to masturbate but yeah." Maka blushed, "c... can I see? I'll strip if you will."

Tsubaki blushed furiously, hauling Maka into a passionate kiss. "Sure..." She purred. Maka blushed furiously, slipping off her jacket, gloves, and the shirt, hat and slacks that for some reason had replaced her usual outfit. It felt weird seeing the bulge in her panties, and when Maka slipped them off, her member bobbed free, half hard already from the lust she'd sensed from Tsubaki.

Their desire was feeding on each other, their movements slow, hesitant. Maka flattened her body against Tsubaki's taller one. Their lips met again in an earth shattering kiss. Tsubaki wrapped a hand around Maka's member and pumped, clumsily working it to arousal. "mmmph..." Maka growled softly. "Lube... Tsubaki..." She panted, trying to catch her breath.

Curse this male body, her female one was actually more sensitive but her male one seemed to have absolutely no control over urges that Maka had partially found frightening until only recently. What kept her going was the knowledge that regardless of body this was still Tsubaki. Still just as gentle, still just as tender.

The first finger going in caused Maka to squeak, Tsubaki had found lotion to prepare her with. The squeak was followed by a moan, for when the finger went in, the kusari gama's lips found her erection. Maka moaned a second time as Tsubaki took more of her in. The second finger pinched, and Maka raised her legs to give Tsubaki a better angle. That alleviated the pinching and gave access to a point the weapon was looking for.

Maka screamed in pleasure, head rolling back, neck arched. Yes, curse this male body with its lack of control. Tsubaki smirked, eyes half lidded as she began to lick the head, dipping her tongue into the slit. Maka groaned, writhing on the bed in pleasure.

Then the fingers were gone, and Maka blinked, pouting in disappointment. Then Tsubaki's lips sealed hers in a kiss, and the head gently pushed in. Maka moaned, arms tightening around Tsubaki's shoulders. "nnnggg..."

Tsubaki quieted her with gentle, feather kisses on her face and soft caresses while she waited for her lover to adjust. "move..." Maka mumbled. Tsubaki chuckled, only to be hushed as Maka pulled her down into a demanding kiss.

The weapon purred into Maka's lips, and started to thrust, shifting angle as she tried to find the spot again. Suddenly Maka bucked under Tsubaki, gasping and arching into the thrust. Tsubaki smiled, hands wandering Maka's body as she took a steady, slow pace that would allow them to enjoy themselves.

Two bodies moved and swayed against each other, covered in sweat, shivering and shuddering in pleasure. Tsubaki was able to draw the pleasure out for awhile, but then Maka felt her entire lower body writhe and her balls clench. "aaaahhhh..." She hissed softly. Tsubaki moaned Maka's name, coming to completion inside of her.

Exhausted from their exertions, the two seperated and lay there. Tsubaki wrapped warm arms around Maka's waist. "Maka?"

"Hmmm?"

"You alright?"

"Yeah." silence, and then. "Tsubaki?"

"Hmm?"

"I don't want to get up."

Tsubaki laughed, looping strong arms around her lover and smiling in a way that was purely her. "Then don't."

Kid peeked into the door to his father's study. Shinigami-sama was meditating, Spirit was in weapon form in his lap. Toc was fiddling with something on his desk. "Durn seal." The construct whispered quietly.

Ox ran up behind Kid. Kid carefully eased the door closed. "Did you get it?"

"Yeah, took me awhile." Ox pulled out a book on magical classification. "Toc is a magical construct. Its a broad category of beings from simple Golems and familiars to complex animated creatures. Toc is classified as a Fithfath. But there's some pretty deep shit mentioned in this book. Appearantly only the strongest magic users can make sentient constructs. It usually involves either implanting it with a piece of your own soul or charging it up with your wavelength like a battery."

"And a fithfath is?"

"A bundle of elemental materials, such as earth, wood, water, wind, ecetera, configured into a puppet and animated with an artificial soul. And here's the crappy thing, there's no law in Shibusen's charter about creating artificial souls. Its frowned upon, the process is highly controversial and tightly regulated. But there's no law against it."

Kid nodded, shivering. He didn't like that kind of research, but as he skimmed the passage under "Ethics" of that kind of magic he realized that the reason why Shibusen hadn't outlawed it was out of concern that outlawing research into artificial souls would result in the beings created by that research being treated as second class citizens with no rights. The reason for not making it illegal was to preserve the right to life of artificially made beings that had souls. In part, the reason why Sid was still allowed to teach was because certain kinds of protections were put into place for non human, non kisshin beings.

Toc was technically protected unless he broke one of shinigami-sama's rules.

Kid snapped the book shut. "How's Chrona?"

"Terrified, and trying not to show it. He started arranging the picture symmetrically, the one in the library?"

Kid groaned. "The personality altering must be in effect on him still."

"It isn't on you?"

"No, it faded about an hour ago, except for some strange fascination with giraffes."

Ox laughed. "Patti."

"Yeah, I seemed to have gotten some of her personality traits and some of Chrona's." Kid sighed. "I'm hoping the personality warping effects fading means that I'll change back. You Ox?"

"eh... well as you can see, my rampent crush on Kim has come to bite me on the ass." Ox said irritably. "Except for these two pillars, well... same build, same height, same proportions, and same hair."

Kid chuckled bitterly.

"And your father?"

"He and Spirit are meditating, and I'm hoping Toc is working on something to change us back."

Kid started walking towards the library in gallows manor, Ox walked along beside him. "Lets see if we can find something in the private library."

"And check on Chrona right?"

"Yes, hitting two birds with one stone." Kid replied. "i'm very concerned what Chrona is going through. And my neurosis is not a condition I'd wish on anybody."

Ox nodded. "OCD right?"

"Eh, sort of." Kid sighed. "Its an immune reaction caused by step bacteria. The antibodies attacked my brain, causing severe OCD."

"Pandas." Ox realized.

"You're familiar with it?"

"I read scientific journals, including medicine, frequently."

Kid nodded. "I got special permission from Azusa-sensei to carry antibiotics with me."

Ox sighed. "I wonder if Mifune's going to be alright."

"eeeh." Kid had completely forgotten about the samurai. "Well, why don't we go check on him in the hospital when we're back to normal."

Ox nodded, they turned the corner into the library and blinked.

Chrona was chin rubbing as he regarded a picture, carefully measuring it with a yard stick. "Yep, personality changes still seem to be effecting him." Ox stated.

Kid chuckled, looping his arms around Chrona while the demon swordsman checked the picture. "Hey there."

"I can't tell if I've got it right." Chrona sighed.

"Thats the way it always is for me." Kid chuckled, kissing Chrona on each cheek.

"Fortunately, the effects are only temporary." Shinigami-sama entered the library. "Gomen, son, I heard you outside my office, did you need something?"

"No, just checking up on you." Kid replied quietly. "I was worried when I found out it got you."

Shinigami-sama laughed. "Toc's gotten out before. And so has the succubus that causes this."

"Really? When?"

Shinigami-sama chuckled. "Back when Spirit and Stein were students here. Azusa had just become a deathscythe and had celebrated by getting a huge stack of books out of the restricted section of the library and sharing them with Kami and Stein. They'd accidentally grabbed the Book of Eibon, and when Spirit started being Spirit he accidentally broke the seal on the book." Shinigami-sama chuckled. "Ooooh, the current generation of Deathscythes and their Meisters were such rugrats when they were students." (2)

"The implied mental images are disturbing." Stated Kid.

Shinigami-sama squealed, hugging his son. "Oooooh, you were such a cute baby! Kiddo I should show you your baby book sometime! I even have the hair from your first haircut! Its got a cute ickle line of sanzu in it."

Kid's face twitched, he fell over, whimpering gloomily. "You even have pictures of me as an asymmetrical baby. I'm a failure. I was born a failure. I'll die a failure... wait a minute... THE LAST THING I WANT TO SEE IS THAT I HAD STRIPES IN MY HAIR AS A BABY TOO!" Kid yelled, getting up and glaring at his father angrily. "DO YOU HAVE TO EMBARRASS ME IN FRONT OF MY FRIENDS?"

Shinigami-sama started to cry. "MY KIDDO KUN HATES ME!" He sobbed, throwing his arms around Spirit and wailing.

Spirit stared at Shinigami-sama, reaching for the side of his head. When he found no screw, since he didn't have one, he scratched the side of his head, tilting it the same way Stein did. "You have my sympathy but... SPIRIT CHOP!" Whack. "Snap out of it boss."

Shinigami-sama groaned. "This is your fault, I'm only five percent attracted to you, and now I have YOUR DAMNED FUSSY FATHERNESS!"

"And now you're not acting like me, which is creepy by the way, you're acting like Stella."

Kid sighed. "I don't know how to deal with this." He plopped down next to Chrona.

Chrona wriggled out of his arms and moved to the picture again trying to measure the angle.

"We've gone insane, all of us, only explanation." Ox groaned.

"Its okay son! You and your papa can deal with it together!" Shinigami-sama squeezed Kid so hard he nearly choked. Kid made a gagging sound, wormed his way out of Shinigami-sama's arms, dragged Chrona bodily out of the library and to their room, and locked the door.

"Sorry... I know you were... checking... but I... don't know... how to... deal with... father being like this..." Kid panted.

"Its okay, I don't either." Chrona shuddered, slipping off his robe, moving to inspect his female body in the mirror.

Kid sighed, slipping off her shirt, figuring that his father couldn't get in, and he really wanted to cuddle with Chrona at the moment. Even if he were his normal self, Kid would be intimidated by his father acting like that.

Intimidated? Yes, Kid realized that normally he was intimidated by his father. He also realized that this was no exception.

Kid shivered as he wrapped his arms around Chrona. Chrona groaned, snuggling into Kid's grip and stretching his legs. Then Chrona turned around and squeezed one of Kid's oversized breasts. "Our breasts aren't the same size!" Chrona pouted.

Kid laughed, letting Chrona's hands wander down his female form. Chrona giggled. "You're pudgy." Chrona poked Kid's abdomen. Kid squealed, jumping a mile and knocking his head into Chrona's. Then he turned to figure out what Chrona was talking about. Then he realized his abdomen had swollen slightly. It wasn't much, in fact it wasn't by much. Kid got up, entered his private bathroom, and stepped on the electronic scale.

"eeeek." Kid squeaked. "I gained weight!"

"Maybe its cause you've had such a bad headache you haven't been exercising."

Kid sighed. "My OCD's been aggravating me, and it should be easier for Stein to see it when I'm in female form."

"Kid." Chrona looked up at him worriedly. "It shows in your male form too."

"WHAT?" Kid hadn't noticed.

"Its not as noticable, only about half..." Chrona blushed furiously. "I should have said something earlier shouldn't I?"

"Yeah." Kid rolled his eyes skyward.

"I only say something now I think because I'm changed. I was too worried about your freaking out. Now I've got Maka's outspoken ness in my head and I feel like shouting angrily at almost everyone and..." Chrona blushed. "I'm sorry, its so weird having Maka's temper in my head. I'm not afraid to speak my mind now, I might even blurt something out I might have kept quiet before."

"In a way, perhaps this accident is a good thing, it gives us insight into the minds of the people we care about." Kid blushed furiously. He didn't want to let Chrona go, and with the pinkette demon swordsman's personality, and pieces of Patti's in his head, he realized he suddenly had an insight into one of his weapons and his lover.

Kid reached out to flick on the radio, rather bored. The speaker on NPR was quoting in a quiet, mournful tone. "We learn nothing save through suffering, the wisdom of the Gods is forced on us." (3)

Kid smiled, perhaps today wisdom from the gods had been forced on him, but it wasn't necessarily an unpleasant experience.

Toc is a manga character, so there isn't really a voice actor for him. The voice Toc is speaking with in the fic is the voice I'd use if reading the Soul eater manga chapters with him in them aloud.

Imagines baby soul eater characters dressed as the Rugrats, shudders.

I can't remember the greek philosopher who said this, but its being quoted in the story by Michael C. Ruppert. A peak oil guy and one of my favorite authors on the subject. His work is worth looking up.


	11. Chapter 11

Maka fell asleep in Tsubaki's arms, only to be woken up by... "YAHOOOOO! I'M ME AGAIN! BIG OLD WONDERFUL MALE ME AGAIN! NO TITS, NORMAL DICK, NO PUSSY! YAHOOOOO BLACKSTAR'S BACK!"

"HEY YOU IDIOT!" Soul's female form yelled. "THATS NOT THE STRAP ON YOU HAVE INSIDE ME THATS YOUR DICK!"

"So? You're my boyfriend, girlfriend now, what's it matter?"

"YOU COULD GET ME PREGNANT YOU DUMBASS, AND THEN WHAT'S GOING TO HAPPEN! GET A RUBBER DAMNIT!"

"Oops, sorry. While the children of big old me would be blessed its probably better we not have children for a few years." Blackstar agreed.

"Bedside drawer." Soul fumed.

Maka pulled on her robe, realizing that she was back to normal, Tsubaki was not. She creeked open her bedroom door, and saw a trail of clothing. It lead from an Xbox with dead halo characters on the screen to Soul's room. The door was open a crack, Blackstar was back to normal, Soul was still a girl.

Maka's nose about bled. Soul's legs were in the air, he was very, very female, breasts flushed and nipples peaked. There was a faint sheen of sweat on his face and a strap on abandoned on the floor. Blackstar was hurriedly rolling on a condom and Soul's sex was wet and dripping. Maka could /tell/ how aroused he was.

She tiptoed to the bathroom, and started running a bath. Tsubaki entered behind her, wrapping her arms around Maka's waist. "At least you're back to normal."

"Yeah." Maka reached up and kissed Tsubaki gently on the lips. "I ran us a bath to clean up with. That was intense."

"We should try again when we're both back to normal." Tsubaki chuckled. "This body, its no wonder Blackstar can be oblivious, I feel like my sense of touch has been dulled. I wonder are all boys bodies this way?"

"When we were having sex, I felt like my genitalia had reduced in sensitivity except for the head. BUT, I distinctly felt an intense lack of self control. It wasn't all the magic from the book either. It was /definately/ partially the male physiology and I didn't know how to control it. I remember reading that the structures in the male brain that have to do with impulse control are less developed."

"Probably because risky behavior increases the chances of passing on genes." Tsubaki blinked. "I do believe that my male persona has a small amount of your intellect." She sounded surprised. "At least my voice isn't too different." She hugged Maka as she measured out some lavender salts into the bath. "Epsom salts?"

"Good for not only infections, but for nerve conductivity and soreness." Maka quoted. "C'mon, we'll cuddle and /try/ to ignore them."

"Okay." Tsubaki chuckled.

Ignoring them was harder than it seemed, especially since the sounds Soul and Blackstar were making seemed to move down the hall to the kitchen. "NO YOU IDIOT, USE A NEW CONDOM EVERY TIME! Now it might be better if you set me on the counter."

Blackstar sniggered. "No, no NOT that!" Soul yelled.

"Heheheheheheh, Extra Virgin..." Blackstar sniggered. "Perfect for you Soul you're complaining like one."

"SHUT UP, I'm not feeling particularly confident in this body and I'd much rather get off as many times as I can before it goes."

"Why?"

"I'm feeling ultra horny." Kissing noises, moans, groans, thuds. Then a scream of pleasure and a groan as they took a breath. "oh shit, it broke!"

"That moron." maka growled quietly. "Oil based lubricants break condoms." She snuggled into Tsubaki's arms. Tsubaki was alternately blushing furiously at the noises, and noises were coming from the two of them aplenty, and giggling. Maka couldn't help an occasional nervous giggle.

WHAM! "BLACKSTAARRRRR!"

"so tight... shiiiiittt..."

"I'm not tight, you're just that big. Get DOWN here and kiss me you moron."

Maka's nose was bleeding. "I have to do something."

"Sure."

Maka slipped on her robe, stormed out into the living room dripping wet. "ROOM! Now! Both of you! I'm trying to take a bath with Tsubaki and you WOKE ME..." Maka found herself subject to a torrential nosebleed. A blair shoving soul into her clevage nosebleed.

Blackstar was standing over Soul, butt naked, on the couch. Maka had a very, very nice view of his dick as she'd caught him midway into rolling a condom onto his erection. Soul was moaning in pleasure legs up, flushed, his normally cool and collected facade completely undone. Maka could see his medium sized bust line and even more arousing, his hot, wet sex dripping fluids.

Maka screamed and ran back into the bathroom.

Blackstar started laughing. Soul started yelling. Maka groaned into Tsubaki's chest. "Hey, lets get out, get dressed, and go for coffee instead of a hot bath for our after glow?"

"Sounds like a good idea."

Maka and Tsubaki dried, dressed, and sneaked past Soul and Blackstar, who were so engrossed in each other they didn't notice.

* * *

Kid got the chance to question Toc for about an hour. About that same time his father changed back to normal. "Sorry for my behavior Kid. I have to get to work on this seal, I'll be in my study if you need me. Oh, and the succubus is called the demon of lust for a reason, so don't do anything lustful while you're a girl okay?"

Kid didn't feel like sex anyway, he wanted to curl up in a ball with Chrona and sleep. "Thanks Toc."

Kid had been taking meticulous notes, but now he sat up. "I'll ask you some more tomorrow. I'm sleepy."

"You aren't affected by the succubus' magic?" Toc asked curiously.

"I am, it makes me sleepy. I want to curl up with my lover and rest."

"oh hooooo." Toc peered curiously at Kid, pressing a hand to his forehead. "you don't seem to be sick."

"I'm /not/. I just want to enjoy time with my boyfriend so if you don't mind." He made a shooing motion.

Toc sighed. "Alright, clearly I cannot catch your interest longer while you are under the succubus' magic. Go have lustful cavortions with your boyfriend."

Kid ignored Toc, face twitching. Toc seemed too proper even for Kid to be able to handle. "Hey Toc, can I ask you something?"

"Certainly."

"Your face looks like the opposite of Excalibur's face, why?"

"Eibon hated him." Toc Excalibur faced. "I don't blame him, that /pompous/ baffoon. My face is an effort to make a statement about what Eibon wanted to do to Excalibur." And then Toc was slipping out. Kid curled up with Chrona. Oddly, the Succubus' magic just made him cuddly and sleepy. Very cuddly and very sleepy.

"You're tired Kid?" Chrona asked, yawning himself.

"Yeah, you could put an asymmetrical mummy in front of me and I'd still fall asleep I'm so tired."

"Don't forget to check your belly." Chrona mumbled, rapidly falling asleep. "I see it glowing again."

But Kid was already asleep, cuddled cutely with Chrona, and for once beating the demon swordsman in the department of adorableness.

* * *

Stein's knees hurt. They tended to do that when he'd been having sex frequently. Especially with Spirit, who tended to prefer positions that would require Stein to support both their weights. He'd just tossed a naproxen down with a generous gulp of coffee the next morning when Kid, now completely back to normal, came in. It had been an eventful morning. Of the deathscythes, only Spirit and Azusa were still girls. Liz had started the day a man, but changed back in the middle of class. Poor poor Tsubaki was /still/ male. Kilik had teased her "Mirror mirror on the wall, who's the horniest one of all?"

"Professor?"

"Yes Kid?" Stein yawned. His cigarettes never helped him when he'd pulled an all nighter or most of the nighter with Spirit. In fact, he never needed them the morning after. After lunch the cravings for nicotine would hit, and Stein would have to run off. But he supposed if he had sex with Spirit at midday he'd probably not need one in the afternoon either.

And they were technically trying to get pregnant, so even though what Spirit had done with him the night before was definitely lustful, sex for the purpose of reproduction usually didn't have much of an issue with the succubus' magic. Neither really, did sexual acts done with one's heart full of love.

"I need an examination."

"Any particular issue?"

"Migranes, the only thing that really works for them is an herbal cure Kim made. When they hit I can't even concentrate on the board in class. My vision is fine, but the pain."

"Anything else." Stein arched an eyebrow.

"My OCD has been getting worse." Kid admitted.

"Alright, then I think its time I ran a blood test for strep and a standard blood panel. As for the migranes, they could very well be stress, so take a few days off from school and see if you can get a couple of massages from the new sports spa." Stein yawned. "If the strep test is negative I'll have an MRI done."

"There's something else too." Kid blushed.

"oh?"

"Starting to gain weight." He mumbled.

"Any changes in diet or exercise?"

"god damnit, I'm not some couch potato Stein."

"Of course not, shinigami metabolism is supposedly finicky when you go through puberty." Stein was and wasn't in a good mood considering Spirit's libido. On the one hand, he had lots of sex, on the other hand, he was in pain. When /was/ that naproxen sodium going to kick in? "Anyway, lets get that sample and that should give me a better idea of what's wrong with you. Does any particular activity precipitate the migranes, reading, computer use, video games, anything?"

"No, they seem to hit at random, though they're most intense in the morning. But Stein."

"Hmm?"

"My OCD getting worse really concerns me."

"Which is why we're checking for strep." Stein got the blood sample and pulled out a tongue depressor. "Say ah, let me look at your throat."

"You know that won't work, but fine, aaaaaaaaah." (1)

Stein smirked, quickly getting a mouth swab. Kid squeaked, nearly biting the swab's stick in half. "I never said I was just looking. A mouth swab will allow me to test your throat for the bacteria. Always good to have a backup." Stein sighed. "Alright, let me take these to the lab. I want you to go home, I'll let Liz and Patti know that I gave you a couple of days off. Besides, if you really /did/ get strep and your Pandas is reacting, then you definitely want to stay home from school."

"When will the tests be back?"

"With /my/ machinery? By the time school lets out." Stein beamed.

Chrona was nervous, Kid wasn't in class, including in their survival class. "M... Maka... where's Kid."

Stein wheeled in. "Right! Kid's been excused from school for medical leave, but Blackstar has no excuse for being late. And where's Soul? They aren't fighting /again/ are they?"

"Maybe he's with Soul, I mean they're good friends and Soul was really freaked out by the succubus' magic yesterday."

"I still can't believe I /missed/ that!" One of the girls whined. "I'd love to see Mister Cool Sexist Pig wear his sex organs on the inside. And Blackstar turning into a girl? Poetic Justice for his idiotic yelling every day."

"Right, Alyssa detention."

"But senseeeiii! You know its true! Where does Soul get off insulting his Meister's bra size? Thats totally sexist! And Blackstar needs his vocal chords surgically removed so that we have peace and..."

"I THE MIGHTY BLACKSTAR HAVE BEEN LAID IN A CLOSET!" Blackstar yelled, bouncing up the aisle.

"Oh good Lord." Alyssa was not fond of Blackstar. She was known for openly calling him names, none of which were flattering. "Ladies get out your iron girdles, the moron has discovered how to procreate."

"so Blackstar is accounted for and Alyssa gets three detentions instead of one. If Soul doesn't get here in ten minutes he's getting a detention."

"Oh I passed him on the way to the bathroom." Blackstar beamed. "Something about drinking less orange juice with breakfast."

Yeah, for the past 3 days Soul had been craving orange juice. He'd gone through a gallon already. And the rate at which he had to go to the bathroom afterwards, while not surprising, made Maka wonder if something was wrong with his blood sugar that he had to go to the bathroom that much.

What was it with sex that messed with the heads of men? Maka had /been/ a man not even 12 hours before, and yet she still couldn't understand them. Why were they so SEX obsessed?

Soul was back five minutes later, a faint smile aimed at Blackstar.

Maka wasn't happy, every so often the teachers liked to hint that the tardiness of one partner would land the other partner a reduction in their GPA. So after class she sighed. "Soul what is with you and being late?"

"Look, I had a quickie with Blackstar and if I hadn't had to pee afterwards I'd have been here a few seconds before him."

"You played HOOKIE for a QUICKIE! The teachers could dock my grades!" Maka wailed.

"They won't dock your grades, thats an empty threat. But if you keep shouting Stein will make you scrub his lab again."

They quickly got to work, but over the course of the morning, Maka noticed Soul had to take frequent bathroom breaks. Every couple of hours, and he was drinking a lot of water. Finally when they broke for lunch, Stein finished. "Soul Evans, I need you to come with me. I've had it with your frequent bathroom breaks, time to get to the bottom of whatever's bothering you."

"Finally..." Soul sighed in disgust. "I'll meet you at the dispensary, I need to go again."

Stein waited patiently, then took Soul inside for an examination and Maka waited outside. She heard muffled yells of shock, the sound of... Soul was /crying?/ Then he came out, red eyed, angry, and his cheeks tear stained. Soul grabbed Maka by the hand and pulled her away. "Lets go."

"just a moment..." Stein sighed. "You're off combat for the next month. Tomorrow morning at about ten, drink a twenty ounce bottle of water and don't pee until you get to my office. Lay off the sex for a night because the tests I'm going to run will get confused if they encounter foreign fluids."

"Whatever screw head, shut up, leave me alone, and go screw Maka's dad like you know you want to!"

"DETENTION!" Stein roared. "Go home, get some rest. Maka you can stay if you want."

Soul looked into Maka's eyes, and she sensed something wrong, he needed her. "Meister and weapon are two as one, I'm going with my partner."

Soul didn't talk the whole time they rode his moped home. When they got in the door, Soul growled irritably and threw himself down on the couch. Maka heard sobs. "you know that..." Soul's voice cracked. "you know that mutation that your father told you about, the one that lets male weapons bear children?"

"yeah." Maka said quietly.

"I have it." Soul said dully. "Stein said my internal organs were rearranging so that they're fertile." Souls voice just choked. "He said because the fluids are rearranging themselves its putting pressure on my bladder. Because I have to go more often I have to drink more."

Maka rocked back, like she'd been shocked. She sat Soul up and hugged him. And Soul just cried. "Cool guys don't cry."

"I won't tell anyone." Maka said gently. "I'm your Meister, you protect me in battle, the least I can do is comfort you when something is wrong. So go ahead and cry."

Soul went silent, body shaking as he sobbed into Maka's shoulder. "S... Stein's gonna do a body scan tomorrow with this new machine of his, c... can you come with me?"

"Sure." Maka told Soul with a gentle smile.

"SCYTHEYBOY!" Blair squealed, bounding up in cat form. "Y... you're crying..." Blair had been about to boob smoosh Soul, but she stopped at the foot of the couch, looking questioningly at Soul. Then she sniffed. "You smell strange between the legs, are you sick?" (2)

"I just got a shock today thats all Blair, do... do you mind staying in cat form tonight?" Soul started to dry his eyes. "I heard having a pet around helps relieve stress."

"Ooooooh, sure... poor baby... no booby smooshing tonight. Blair will give you kitty cuddles." Blair hopped up into Soul's lap, kneading his legs a bit with her claws before curling up in a ball. Soul hugged her tightly, and Blair purred soothingly.

Despite her outgoing and shameless demeanor, Blair knew when the /wrong/ time to smoosh Soul was. And she knew that Maka would be pissed off, possibly even in a chopping mood, if she smoosh hugged her partner while he was in that state. And she could feel that Soul was soothed by having a purring cat in his arms.

Maka walked around the corner to the kitchen, and sat down with her back to the wall. The tile felt cool beneath her legs, her fingers moving over the cracks in the grout. She took a deep breath, let it out, then another. Meister and weapon were two as one, clearly this was something deeply emotional for him. Maka wasn't sure what the future held for her partner. But she wasn't going to abandon him, not unless he actually wanted to leave.

Soul could hear Maka slump against the wall and the deep breathing she was trying to do. Her breath was shaky, and loud. Then he heard soft sobs from around the corner.

The tears came before Maka could stop them. The existential blues, the problem she /still/ had to confront /herself./ Her family wasn't what she thought it was. She cursed her father's extreme sensitivity to criticism and judgement. It WOULD have saved her a lot if he'd been a bit more bold and didn't /assume/ that something would be wrong with her if she grew up raised by two men. Yes, the statistics /said/ that girls grew up better with women around, and boys grew up better with men around. But still...

Soul whispered in Blair's ear, the cat nodded, hopping off his lap and wandering around the corner to Maka. Purrrrrrr... purrrrrrrr... purrrrrrrr... Blair purred and rubbed against Maka's side before pushing her head up under Maka's arm and snuggling against her. "Don't cry, Blair doesn't like tears... nyaaaa. I shed too many of them before I met you and Soul." Blair reached up to lick Maka's cheek.

"B... blair thanks... I've just got some issues I need to think about and... its really hard to understand them." Maka hugged the cat.

"Boy you and Soul are so full of the blues today. You should have Blackstar and Tsubaki come by." Blair smirked. "I know you like being held by her. I don't blame you, being held by someone really kind and sweet is very comforting when you have the blues."

"Thanks." Maka sighed. "But for now I'm more worried about Soul."

Chrona was worried about Kid, Maka, and Soul, his two favorite people weren't there. The hermaphrodite whined slightly as they changed classes.

"Its okay." Liz told Chrona. "We just have to put the finishing touches on our project okay? For survival class."

Chrona nodded, gulping down his worry. "Okay. We can surprise Kid-kun and Maka-chan."

"Yep." Patti said with a huge grin.

"Oh nooooo, there's another outing tomorrow!" Chrona started biting his nails.

"Oh yeah, we're going to New Orleans this weekend, urban survival in ruined parts of the city after the hurricane."

Chrona relaxed some. "That can't be too bad."

"Not quite, we've got boundaries saying where the test site is and we can't leave the testing area." Liz sighed. "If we do Sid will ambush the one who left, take their gear and make us rescue whoever it is. And Azusa will be watching."

Chrona shivered. "Azusa is scary sometimes. I know its just who she is but... I don't know how to deal with her getting angry."

"oh believe me, the other deathscythes don't know how to deal with her anger either except to cower in fear and wait for her to beat them up." Patti giggled. "She's a tough angry organized teacher and she's awesome that way." She said as they left the school for survival class.

Chrona smiled, and found a spot in the exact middle of their debris fort, right across from the entrance. He took a bit of charcoal and began to draw. "Hey Liz can you figure out some way to protect this drawing until Kid can see it?"

"Uh sure, I think I saw some extra plastic sheeting somewhere." Liz was struggling with a pulley they'd found, trying to hang a water cistern so that gravity could do the work for them. "What are you drawing?"

"You'll see." Chrona beamed.

Chrona drew a big ocean, and a little version of himself with his arm around Kid. The other hand held Maka's, and then Chrona started to add the others in their little group. "See? We may not be related by blood but I see you all as my family." Chrona blushed furiously for being so bold.

"awwwww." Patti squealed.

Azusa poked her head in in time to hear that. "Then you'll need this word Chrona." She took a piece of charcoal and drew the hiragana for "na-ka-ma."

"What does Nakama mean?" Chrona head tilted.

"it means people you think of as family but who aren't related to you by blood." Azusa replied. "If someone feels like family in your soul but aren't related to you, then thats Nakama." She sighed, thinking of her crazy misfit classmates.

"I like that." Chrona blushed. "Nakama."

"here." Azusa took a tarp from the pile of salvaged material and carefully hung it over the finished drawing. "Now i've set up a chalkboard, we're gonna learn visual signals so that you can tell someone where you are. You'll want notebooks, and I'll pass around hand wipes to clean your hands."

"Where is Kid?" Patti asked worriedly.

"He got sent home by Stein, his migranes are disrupting his schoolwork and he needs special medicine for them."

"But Stein's gonna do something about that right?" Liz asked. "If he's sick..."

"Stein is running tests, and Kid has an appointment tomorrow. Stein asked him if he wanted you two with him but he said he didn't want to interrupt your lessons because normal pain medicine isn't working for his headache."

"Alright."

When Liz came home that evening however, she'd barely set down her bag when she heard Chrona's yell of alarm and Kid's scream of rage, then a huge crash.

"I CAN'T GET IT SYMMETRICAL ENOUGH! NO FORGET THE ENOUGH! I CAN'T GET IT SYMMETRICAL PERIOD!"

Liz ran down the hall. Kid had shattered the picture he loved to straighten so much. Chrona was making small whining noises, curled up in a ball with a pillow between his knees and his chest. Kid was kicking the painting, snuffing out his candles and breaking them in half and gouging them with his fingers in a fit of rage.

"KID!" Liz yelled.

Kid looked up at his weapon, this look of utter frustration and agony in his eyes. "Liz... I think... I think there's something wrong with me. The ruler said the painting was symmetrical, but my brain said it wasn't. Even though my... even though my eyes... LIZ I DONT KNOW WHAT TO DO!" Kid broke down crying. "I've never had my brain contradict my eyes about symmetry before!"

"First, hug your boyfriend." Liz pointed to Chrona. "Who is crying his eyes out because you /scared/ him."

Kid nodded. "i'm sorry."

"Me too. I'll get some bath oil for you two from my stash, use the good bathroom while I clean this up." Liz told him. "For now, we're just going to leave the place where your arrangement should be empty. If a space is blank wall, then it can't be asymmetrical." she was fuming at Kid. "and WATCH your symmetry rants around Chrona! If I see you scare him like that again, I'll throw you to Maka's mercy!" Kid flinched as Liz slammed the door behind her and went to console Chrona.

/I think I'm going /insane/./ Kid thought to himself. /Not from Madness, but from my own personal hell./

* * *

1. Pandas patients can be asymptomatic for strep other than their psychiatric symptoms getting worse.

2. Cats can smell the hormone changes when someone is pregnant.


End file.
